The south west African Republic of Namibia sought to become the sustainability hub of Africa and aimed to become the first carbon-neutral country on the continent. This was highlighted on Wednesday by Namibia Investment Promotion & Development Board Executive Director: Investments and New Ventures François van Schalkwyk. He was addressing an Invest in Namibia Roundtable, which was a side event of the Africa Energy Indaba, being held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. “We believe that our energy mix will be predominantly green by 2040,” he reported. “Namibia has high, constant wind speeds, particularly on the south coast. It has the highest potential [in the world] for PV [photovoltaic solar] output.”
Eskom has announced that there will not be any Stage 5 loadshedding for the week, as previously communicated; however, Stage 4 will continue until further notice. This is due to the return of generating units at Kriel, Majuba and Matimba power stations.
For South Africa to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by the growing global demand for green hydrogen, management consulting firm McKinsey managing partner of South Africa Kannan Lakmeeharan believes swift action is needed to move from feasibility to investment decisions. Speaking to Engineering News on March 7 at a McKinsey-hosted event focusing on green hydrogen, which ran alongside the African Energy Indaba, in Cape Town, he said that derisking green hydrogen projects by securing some form of uptake was crucial.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) tells Engineering News that Minister Barbara Creecy has received a letter from Eskom requesting her to issue directions in terms of the disaster management regulations to exclude the construction of the temporary stacks at Kusile from environmental requirements. The state of disaster regulations issued on February 28, include Regulation 5(1)(i) which empowers Creecy to issue directions “excluding upgrades, refurbishments, adjustments and repairs of existing energy infrastructure and existing generation, transmission and distribution facilities” from environmental legislation.
Karpowership, the Turkish company seeking to supply 1 220 MW of electricity to South Africa, had one of three appeals against adverse environmental rulings rejected, a person with knowledge of the matter said, potentially delaying a solution to the country’s power crisis. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment rejected the appeal to moor a ship-mounted power plant capable of generating about 450 MW at the Coega harbor in the Eastern Cape province, the person said. Decisions on plants planned at the Saldanha and Richards Bay harbors have yet to be communicated to the company, the person said, asking not be identified because the government hasn’t made the information public.
JSE-listed paper and plastics packaging business and recycler Mpact’s product innovation, research and new production capacity is targeting sectors like export fruit, convenience shopping, recycling and waste management. The company is expecting to see sustained growth in these sectors, which are also partly shielded from South African consumer spending patterns.
A review of statistics over a seven-month period shows a considerable increase in cable theft arrests by the City of Cape Town’s Metal Theft Unit since November, the city says in a statement. The increase coincides with higher stages of loadshedding.
Although Africa is going through an “unavoidable” energy transition, South African Institute of Electrical Engineers president Prince Moyo believes the continent can “leapfrog” the trajectory of Western nations if it finds ways of making renewable energy components on the continent.
Speaking at an Energy Day event organised by power systems developer Hitachi Energy Southern Africa on March 7, he said the future of electricity development was heading away from industrial users, and towards being more energy efficient and renewable energy information systems instead.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has confirmed that five substation sites have been specified by Eskom for the public procurement of battery energy storage systems (BESS) with a combined capacity of 513 MW and a minimum of four hours of storage, or at least 2 052 MWh. A bid submission date of 17:00 on July 5 has been set and preferred bidders will be announced about two months thereafter. The projects are expected to be in operation 24 months after reaching commercial close.
There are some positives in the Cabinet reshuffle announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, with some appointments having been welcomed by industry organisations; however, many were concerned by underperforming ministers being kept on and some reassigned, changes not being sufficiently decisive and the Cabinet size not being reduced. Importantly, Ramaphosa named a new Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, and while the role he will play has been emphasised by some, other organisations have questioned the need for the position at all.
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