Risk of total blackout not keeping me awake at night, says acting Eskom boss

The risk of a total blackout in South Africa is not keeping him awake at night, says Eskom acting CEO Calib Cassim, but rather any upgrade in loadshedding beyond stage six. “One of the biggest questions that I am asked from various stakeholders is whether the country is going to experience a blackout. I have all the confidence…that we’ll never get there.
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Mantashe outlines procurement schedules, including for nuclear, as he confirms IRP delay

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has pulled back from his statement that the release of the revised Integrated Resource Plan, which he has dubbed IRP 2023, is imminent, revealing during his Budget Vote on Tuesday that the draft will be presented to Cabinet only in the second quarter of this financial year. Government’s financial year runs from the start of April to the end of March, implying that the presentation to Cabinet will be made between July and September .
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Economic development not a qualifying criteria for 513 MW battery storage bids

Economic development factors have not been included as qualifying criteria for South Africa’s inaugural Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (ESIPPPP), through which the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy aims to procure 513 MW, or at least 2 052 MWh, of battery storage across five substation sites in the Northern Cape. The ESIPPPP request for proposals (RFP) was launched on March 7 and the bid submission date has been set for July 5, while Eskom has selected sites at the following substations:
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Climate commission recommends grid PPPs to speed up just energy transition

The Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) is recommending that alternative investment models, including public-private partnerships (PPPs), be explored to expand and strengthen South Africa’s electricity grid “at speed and scale”, given the centrality of the grid to unlocking the energy transition, as well as the just components of the transition. However, it also stresses that there is no intention to privatise the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTC), which is in the process of being established as a separate entity under Eskom Holdings.
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Pan African advances renewables procurement plans

Midtier Africa-focused gold producer Pan African Resources has signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement with renewable energy company Juwi Renewable Energies for an 8.87 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) facility at the Barberton Mines’ Fairview operation, in Mpumalanga. Pan African expects the solar facility will provide cost savings of R26-million in year one, before averaging R40-million a year in cost savings over the life of the plant.
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Fuel industry does not foresee loadshedding-induced diesel shortages this winter

The South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) is not anticipating a domestic diesel supply crunch this winter as a result of a spike in generator-related demand, despite ongoing warnings of possible higher levels of loadshedding and the prospect of Eskom, businesses and even some households turning to the fuel in an effort to mitigate the impact of regular power cuts. Sapia executive director Avhapfani Tshifularo tells Engineering News that domestic diesel demand has remained relatively static over the past few years and that the average monthly consumption is about 1.1-billion litres currently.
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Powerships likely to feature in five-year Eskom emergency procurement

The prospect of South Africa procuring electricity from powerships docked either in South Africa or in a neighbouring country has increased, with the Eskom board having approved three emergency procurement programmes that now only require the concurrence of the regulator before proceeding. The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) will host hearings on May 19 into three determinations for emergency power, including: the 2 000 MW Load Shedding Reduction Programme (LSRP); a 1 000 MW scheme to secure additional cross-border electricity; and an 800 MW Emergency Generation Procurement Programme.
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Service provider helps plants improve efficiency

The drive towards reducing carbon footprints while remaining sustainable and profitable operationally and financially has become a priority for the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Within this context, operations and maintenance service provider AES has “become the go-to company for plants to optimise their energy generation and operations while diversifying energy resources, improving energy plant operations and reducing carbon footprints”, says AES director Dennis Williams.
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Moving into the future with ‘controlled pneumatics’

Automation company Festo has further developed its compressed air technology to make its pneumatics sustainable, resource saving and energy efficient. While the production of tyres and wafers are seemingly very different, both products require the same technology, namely controlled pneumatics.
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Firms partner to deliver SKID substations to miner

Local medium voltage (MV) ac motor and transformers manufacturer ArmCoil Afrika and engineering services company Schneider Electric have partnered on the provision of a skid mobile substation product line that will provide continuous power to a large mining conglomerate’s South African operations. The companies have already completed two skid substations (SKID 961 and SKID 979), with the third and fourth units currently in the manufacturing process. A SKID is a prefabricated substation, assembled on a self-supporting transformer, creating an easily transportable design that can be quickly energised.
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