Trade and development finance institution the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has signed a project preparation facility financing agreement for an up to 200 MW private-sector, reservoir-based hydropower project to be located along the Lufira river, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The bank has partnered with independent power producer Kipay Investments, which will develop, design, build, install, commission and operate, as well as manage, the hydroelectric power plant.
South Africa is “still in the foothills of economic recovery” and, while external influences must still be skillfully navigated, the country’s future economic performance will hinge mainly on domestic policy decisions that maintain a macroenvironment that is efficient, stable and consistent for investment and job-rich growth. This is the main message of the North-West University Business School’s Policy Uncertainty Index (PUI) for the fourth quarter, with the PUI unexpectedly rising much further into negative territory to 65.7, compared with 53.5 in the third quarter of the year, said NWU Business School Professor Raymond Parsons.
From the moment Mpho Putsoenyane’s daughter Hlompho was born in Zamdela, a South African township beside the smokestacks and gas flares of Sasol’s oldest coal-to-liquid refinery, the baby struggled to breathe. Last year, when she was four months old, she turned purple and started gasping. Her parents rushed the baby to hospital, where medics only just revived her heart with a defibrillator, Putsoenyane recalls.
The Steinmüller Africa Kendal Boilerserve team has been awarded the Eskom Kendal Power Station Contractor of the Year Award 2024.
This award demonstrates the company’s continued role as leaders in the steam generation plant service industry.
Nine people were injured at Eskom’s Matla power station on December 12 when a transformer exploded, affecting Unit 6. As a precautionary measure, Unit 5 was also taken offline to ensure the safety of all employees and contractors on-site.
State-owned power utility Eskom has sparked debate with its latest tariff proposal, resulting in uncertainties for solar power users.
Solar energy company GoSolr co-founder Patrick Narbel points out that, although South Africa’s electricity system needs tariff reviews to ensure an efficient and fair energy system, there are risks with getting them wrong, including market distortion.
The selection of Pele Green Energy (PGE) to supply renewable energy to the South African ferrochrome smelters operated by the Glencore Merafe Venture represents an important milestone in the steady yet uneven evolution of South Africa’s electricity industry. Its significance is not immediately apparent, largely because the novelty of such multidecade power purchase agreements (PPAs) between electricity-intensive private firms and independent power producers (IPPs) has worn off somewhat three-and-a-half years after President Cyril Ramaphosa successfully twisted a reluctant Gwede Mantashe’s arm to enable such deals at scale.
South Africa has issued a request for information (RFI) to gauge the level of interest and readiness of industry to participate in Independent Transmission Projects (ITP) as it prepares to launch an ITP pilot tender in 2025. Described as a “sounding exercise”, the RFI has been unveiled jointly by the National Treasury and the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, and includes a deadline for responses of February 28.
State-owned power utility Eskom has welcomed the separate sentencing of two individuals for theft of cables near the Duvha power station, in Mpumalanga, and said it was committed to safeguarding the security and integrity of its critical infrastructure. The utility has welcomed the 15-year prison sentence handed down to one person for the March theft of copper cable from the Duvha power station’s coal conveyor belt, as well as the five-year prison sentence handed down to another for the theft of aluminium cables near the power station. The sentences were handed down in October.
State-owned electricity utility Eskom has provided some additional detail regarding the decision to continue operating 17 coal units across five power stations beyond their original decommissioning dates. The decision is in line with a May 23 determination by then Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy to allow Eskom to operate Hendrina, Grootvlei, Arnot, Camden and Kriel at existing minimum emission standards (MES) plant limits until March 31, 2030.
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