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Night loadshedding escalates to Stage 3 

Loadshedding will jump to Stage 3 at 16:00 Monday after a delay in the return to service of two generating units. “Over the past 24 hours, five generation units were taken offline for repairs. Additionally, the return to service of two generating units that were on planned maintenance was delayed due to an opportunity to perform preventative maintenance. These factors have contributed to the shortage of available capacity necessitating the implementation of Stage 3 loadshedding from 16:00 today until 05:00 on Tuesday,” Eskom said.  “Thereafter, loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 2 until 16:00 on Tuesday. This pattern of Stage 2 loadshedding from 05:00 until 16:00 and Stage 3 loadshedding from 16:00 until 05:00 will be repeated daily until further notice.” 
January 29, 2024 by

NNR approves the separation of the operating timelines of Koeberg’s nuclear reactors

The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) has announced that it has approved the request of national electricity utility Eskom to separate the operational timelines for the two reactors of the Koeberg nuclear power plant (NPP). Koeberg, located on South Africa’s west coast, near Cape Town, is the country’s (and still Africa’s) only operating NPP. (The continent’s second NPP, El Dabaa in Egypt, is still under construction.) The two reactors were designed Unit 1 and Unit 2. “After completing its safety assessment, the NNR confirmed that the approval of the separation of the units will not impact the safety of the Koeberg nuclear power stations,” reported the regulator, in its press release.
January 29, 2024 by

Eskom’s new curtailment addendum unlocks 3 470 MW of grid for wind in Western and Eastern Cape

Eskom has taken a major step in unlocking much-needed grid capacity for wind projects in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces by publishing the highly-anticipated curtailment addendum to its latest Generation Connection Capacity Assessment, or GCCA 2025. The addendum, which has been published on Eskom’s website and has been approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), states that, by accepting a “reasonable share of no more than 10% of curtailment”, 3 470 MW of additional grid capacity to connect wind generation will be made available, including 2 680 MW in the Western Cape and 790 MW in the Eastern Cape.
January 27, 2024 by

Firm hails efficiency plan’s stance on electric motors

Plan to apply the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for low-voltage electric motors in South Africa have been hailed by solutions provider WEG Africa as an exciting step toward energy efficiency and a lower carbon future for the industry. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition recently announced its intention to put a stop to imports of low-efficiency motors – in the power rating range from 0.75 kW to 375 kW – in favour of motors in the efficiency class of IE3 and above.
January 26, 2024 by

Energy efficient solutions for loadshedding

South Africa’s electricity problems have left the country without power for many hours a day, causing grave difficulties for businesses and households, notes power generation and electromechanical power transmission product supplier Vert Energy. “The inability of the country’s primary electricity supplier to meet demand has called for the private sector to step up and provide solutions that help keep businesses, education facilities, hospitals and more running, in the event of power outages and loadshedding,” explains Vert Energy sales and marketing director Ryan Robertson.
January 26, 2024 by

Energy Vault enters licensing deal for gravity storage solution with SADC-focused consortium

Grid-scale energy storage solutions company Energy Vault has signed a licensing and royalty agreement with a South African consortium, established with the aim of deploying the NYSE-listed company’s gravity energy storage systems across the 16 countries that make up the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc. The agreement is with Gravity Energy Storage Solutions (GESSOL), an entity comprising JSE-listed construction group WBHO, iX Engineers, and Sizana Solutions, which has been partnering with Energy Vault in Southern Africa since 2019.
January 25, 2024 by

Competitiveness concerns could scupper once-in-century potential for South Africa to reindustrialise

The global and local renewable energy transition is presenting industries, and South Africa, with a once-in-a-century growth trajectory to provide products and components into the value chains of renewable energy and battery energy storage systems (BESSs). During the second quarter of 2023, more than $1.7-billion worth of solar panels, inverters and lithium-ion battery systems were imported into South Africa, and this number excludes other components and parts.
January 25, 2024 by

SolarSaver adding battery energy storage to two dairies in Creighton Valley

Solar photovoltaic (PV) installation company SolarSaver has added batteries to the existing grid-tied installation at Burnview Dairy to create a hybrid system. It will also add batteries to the Creighton Valley Cheese Company’s grid-tied installation to increase its output by 50 kW. SolarSaver completed a grid-tied solar installation at the Creighton Valley Cheese Company during 2020.
January 25, 2024 by