South Africa must not miss gas-to-power opportunity – Marokane

South Africa is closer than ever to getting gas-to-power projects off the ground, Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said on Tuesday, arguing that the country has a unique opportunity to use gas to strengthen energy security, support industrial growth and accelerate the expansion of renewable energy. Speaking at the Africa Energy Forum (AEF) in Cape Town, he said a combination of policy alignment, infrastructure planning and growing recognition of gas’s role in modern electricity systems had created conditions that were more favourable than in previous attempts to establish a gas-to-power industry.
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Ramokgopa urges Africa to turn cross-border power plans into bankable projects

Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has called for Africa to accelerate the implementation of cross-border electricity infrastructure by converting continental energy plans into bankable projects capable of attracting large-scale investment. Addressing the opening of the Africa Energy Forum (AEF) in Cape Town on Tuesday, Ramokgopa said the continent needed to accelerate implementation of the African 10-Year Infrastructure Investment Plan for cross-border interconnectivity, which is being advanced under South Africa’s G20 presidency.
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Necsa expects to identify SMR partner within a year

The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) expects to identify a partner within the next year for a planned demonstration small modular reactor (SMR), as it steps up efforts to revive local nuclear technology development and expand the country’s future nuclear generation capacity. CEO Loyiso Tyabashe said at the Africa Energy Forum in Cape Town on Tuesday that Necsa had already issued an expression of interest to the market and hoped to select a development partner “by this time next year”.
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City of Joburg not sharing how it will deal with Eskom interruption threat – JCA

Civil society organisation the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance (JCA) says the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) has not provided information to residents and businesses about State-owned Eskom’s threatened interruption of electricity supply to the city. The public still has not been told the full nature of the dispute, CoJ’s obligations, the status of negotiations or what is being done to prevent a crisis.
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South Africa facing major mismatch between renewable energy, grid management

South Africa’s energy sector has undergone a remarkable transformation, RMB senior investment banker for infrastructure sector solutions Keith Webb says. The country, once plagued by loadshedding, has seen a huge expansion in renewable-energy capacity.
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SAPVIA calls for fair access to limited grid as new renewable utility Eskom Green powers up

Industry organisation the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) welcomes the establishment of State-owned renewable-energy utility Eskom Green, but calls for assurance that access to the limited grid capacity will be shared equitably by all independent power producers and players. The establishment of Eskom Green recognises that utility-scale renewable energy and energy storage will be central to delivering long-term energy security, supporting economic growth and attracting investment into the country’s energy infrastructure.
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Mulilo makes further inroads with Hartebeesfontein BESS financial close

South African independent power producer Mulilo has successfully reached financial close on the Hartebeesfontein battery energy storage system (BESS) project, a 77 MW/308 MWh facility located near Klerksdorp, in the North West. This is Mulilo’s second renewable-energy project to be executed within the Matlosana local municipality, which is strategically located near State-owned Eskom’s Hermes main transmission substation.
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Ramokgopa to seek Cabinet approval soon to extend tariff discounts to more industries

Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has indicated that he intends approaching Cabinet in the coming weeks to seek approval to extend concessional electricity tariffs similar to those that have already been approved for two ferrochrome producers to other electricity-intensive industries. In addition, he told delegates to a Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) conference on June 11 that lower tariffs could also be made available to less electricity-intensive sectors such as steel; a sector which he described as strategic and where electricity costs had been flagged as one of the reasons for recent production closures.
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South African steel sector at deindustrialisation ‘inflection point’

The South African steel industry – encompassing the full value chain, from upstream producers to downstream manufacturers and fabricators – has been described as being at a deindustrialisation ‘inflection point’. The dire state of the sector, as well as the ineffectiveness of the prevailing interventions being pursued under the Steel Master Plan to arrest the sector’s decline, came into sharp focus during a Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition meeting on Wednesday.
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Eskom Green gears up to select private partners for initial 2 GW renewables pipeline

Eskom Green, which has now been officially launched, reports that it intends implementing an initial 2 GW pipeline of advanced utility-scale renewables projects in partnership with private investors on land mostly adjacent to the State-owned utility’s coal-fired power stations. However, it is also moving ahead with several smaller on-balance-sheet projects that have a combined capacity of 500 MW using capital set aside in the group’s corporate plan.
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