Another turbulent week for electricity in S Africa

It’s been another turbulent week on the electricity front, with ongoing high levels of loadshedding, the launch of a law suit against Eskom’s grid queuing rules and false and confusing statements about the decommissioning of Komati. Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the week’s developments.  
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Patel urges developers to register on dedicated Energy One-Stop Shop platform

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel has launched the Energy One-Stop Shop (EOSS), as well as the Energy Resilience Fund (ERF), as part of efforts to streamline the process of renewable energy project development and to enable more investment. The EOSS is aimed at fast-tracking energy projects, in line with government’s broader effort over the last few years to increase the supply of energy available to the grid.
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CEOs from 115 companies pledge to help rebuild South Africa

CEOs from over 115 leading corporations operating in South Africa and which collectively employ 1.2-million people and have a combined market value R11-trillion, have formally pledged to help the country overcome the problems currently undermine inclusive economic growth. The companies operate across all sectors of the South African economy, which is currently characterised by low economic growth, collapsing infrastructure, rampant crime and corruption, and extremely levels of inequality and unemployment.
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Investment of $8bn a year needed to ensure universal clean cooking by 2030

Universal clean cooking access could be reached worldwide by 2030 with yearly investment of $8-billion, and clean cooking is a cornerstone of global efforts to improve energy access, gender equity, economic development and human dignity, says global body the International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Dr Fatih Birol. Nearly one-in-three people around the world cook their meals over open fires or on basic stoves, resulting in significant damage to health, living standards and gender equality.
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Karpowership to proceed with South African environment applications

Karpowership has been given permission to proceed with applications for environmental approval for plans to install ship-based power plants at South Africa’s Richards Bay and Saldanha ports. Barbara Creecy, South Africa’s environment minister, dismissed appeals from five environmental groups against the Richards Bay plan, according to the ruling seen by Bloomberg. In a separate ruling she allowed Karpowership to pursue environmental approval at Saldanha, overturning an earlier decision by her department to deny permission.
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Ghana, US, nuclear regulators reaffirm their close cooperation

The heads of the Ghana Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate closely on nuclear safety and regulation. This reaffirmation, jointly by NRA director-general Nii Kwashie Allotey and NRC Chair Christopher T Hanson, was made at the end of last week when the latter was on a visit to Ghana. The two agencies signed their first bilateral cooperation and technical information exchange agreement in 2017. This agreement, and the subsequent cooperation between them, was part of broader Ghanaian-US initiative to assist the African country in developing a civil nuclear power programme. The cooperation between the NRA and NRC embraced issues such as nuclear energy safety and security-related issues.
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Three consortia selected to bid for greenfield Boegoebaai port and rail project

South Africa’s State-owned Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has shortlisted three consortia to participate in an upcoming bidding process to design, fund and construct a greenfield deep-water port at Boegoebaai in the Northern Cape, as well as rail infrastructure linking the port to mines in the province. Located some 20 km south of Alexander Bay, which is close to the Namibian border, sun-drenched Boegoebaai has also been earmarked as a possible site for the development of a green-hydrogen hub.
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Only approved inverters to be accepted from October, warns City of Cape Town

The City of Cape Town has announced that all solar photovoltaic (PV) and/or battery systems connected to the wiring of a building must be registered with the city before installation. Also, from October onwards, only city-approved inverters will be accepted for these systems.
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Ramokgopa attacks climate finance pact

South Africa’s electricity minister attacked the country’s groundbreaking $8.5-billion climate finance pact with some of the world’s richest nations whereby it will close some coal-fired power plants and re-purpose them to produce renewable energy. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told a meeting organized by Standard Bank Group that the closure of Eskom Holdings’s Komati Power Station, the first plant to be shuttered, was “an injustice that is unfolding at Komati in the name of the transition.”
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IFC ready to support private grid investment in South Africa

The World Bank’s private sector financier, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has indicated a willingness to fund public–private partnerships (PPPs) aimed at expanding and strengthening South Africa’s transmission infrastructure. IFC VP for Africa Sérgio Pimenta tells Engineering News that the private sector already plays a significant role in deploying electricity grids in most developed countries and some emerging markets and that South Africa is well-placed to pilot such PPPs in light of the urgent need to expand the domestic grid, particularly in provinces with potent wind and solar resources.
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