As the largest private facility of its kind built to date in South Africa, the Witberg Wind Farm – located between the Touws river and Laingsburg, in the Western Cape – will prevent the emission of about 420 792 t of CO2 a year, supplying renewable energy to over 122 500 homes in the region. Heavy lifting engineered transport and crane rental services Sarens has contributed directly to the development of this strategic project for the South African energy sector.
Having been established in late 2022 at the height of South Africa’s electricity crisis, the Energy Council of South Africa’s initial focus was almost singular: partner with government and Eskom to end loadshedding, which was severely undermining the economy as well as critical investor confidence required for growth and job creation. Under the aegis of the Energy Action Plan (EAP), which was launched a few months earlier in July 2022, and through the partnership between government and business in the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom), CEO James Mackay says the Energy Council mobilised business resources to support stabilisation and recovery from loadshedding. This also had strong government support and political decision-making, as evidenced by the rapidly advanced financial debt-relief package by National Treasury.
A stable, affordable and sustainable electricity supply remains South Africa’s most urgent priority. This urgency is sharply felt by the wind industry where there is a need to unlock grid capacity, which is the single biggest bottleneck preventing the rapid scale-up of new projects, said industry organisation South African Wing Energy Association (SAWEA) CEO Niveshen Govender. Providing an overview of the state of the industry in the lead up to Windaba 2025, Govender explained that State-owned power utility Eskom’s commitment to deploy 2 GW of construction-ready projects by 2026, scaling up to 32 GW by 2040, signals its recognition of the urgent need to expand generation capacity while building for the long term through the launch of the first Renewable Energy Offtake Programme.
Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has unveiled a new smart meter-led strategy to address the ongoing problem of load reduction, where the supply of electricity to poor communities is cut during peak periods to avoid infrastructure being damaged by overloading caused by illegal connections. The power cuts are indiscriminate and, thus, also affect households in those areas that pay their electricity accounts.
South African National Energy Development Institute (Sanedi) energy secretariat head Professor Sampson Mamphweli says the government intends to leverage the Expropriation Act to acquire land for servitudes as part of its transmission network expansion programme. “It is known that much of the land under negotiation is underproductive and some farmers are no longer using it. However, in some cases, the government is pressured during negotiations and ends up paying significantly more for the servitude than the land is actually worth,” he noted at the inaugural Energy Indaba, hosted by the University of South Africa’s (Unisa) College of Human Sciences (CHS), in Pretoria, on September 22.
Two well-established South African renewables companies – African Clean Energy Developments and EIMS Africa – have officially combined to form a new large-scale independent power producer (IPP) known as Anthem. The consolidation also coincides with the introduction of new shareholders into the entity, which has historical ties to the Old Mutual-linked African Infrastructure Investment Managers’ (AIIM’s) IDEAS Fund, which remains the majority shareholder in Anthem.
The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) is accelerating action against its worst defaulters, which may see electricity meters being removed as part of the city’s aggressive credit control initiative under the Project Lokisa banner.
The CoJ has identified more than 1 300 residential customers with a combined municipal debt of R987-million, who have failed to pay their municipal accounts for more than a year.
Industry organisation the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) says Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa will open the Windaba 2025 conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, with a keynote address on October 22. “The Minister’s participation presents a significant opportunity to align government’s policy direction with the wind and renewable-energy industry’s capabilities, galvanising collective action toward South Africa’s energy security and broader economic development goals,” says SAWEA CEO Niveshen Govender.
Engineering News editor Terence Creamer talks about what led to the recent resignation of five members of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) board; Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s continued confidence in the Necsa executive team; and the Minister’s plans for the Necsa board.
Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says a new board will be appointed at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) before the middle of October, replacing the current board which has been inquorate for weeks following a slew of resignations. Speaking during a meeting convened by the Portfolio Committee on Electricity and Energy specifically to discuss the governance crisis at Necsa, the Minister said the resignations had coincided with preparations for the appointment of a new board in January, but that the process would now be accelerated.
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