First Rand’s Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has acquired a 25% stake in Remgro’s Ubiquity Energy platform, the holding company of Energy Exchange, which is an electricity trader licensed by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa. The value of the acquisition has not been disclosed.
A record 295 GW of new renewable-energy capacity was added globally in 2022, with the 9.6% year-on-year growth underpinned largely by record growth in solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, which accounted for almost two-thirds of all new renewables additions with 192 GW installed. The International Renewable Energy Agency’s (Irena’s) ‘Renewable Capacity Statistics 2023’ report shows that with installations of 75 GW wind power came in as the second most deployed renewables technology in 2022, but at a pace that had slowed materially from the 111 GW of wind added in 2020.
UK State development finance institution British International Investment (BII) has announced that it is committing €20-million to the Meridiam Group’s TURF (The Urban Resilience Fund), which is dedicated to projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Meridiam is an independent investment public benefit and asset management group, focused on the development, financing and long-term management of sustainable public mobility, public services and low-carbon infrastructure. It is based in Paris, in France (hence the UK commitment being in euros, not sterling). TURF is focused on funding and supporting the design of climate-focussed urban infrastructure in sub-Saharan African countries. It seeks to make African urban public infrastructure more affordable and reliable, while improving safety and ensuring climate resilience.
The first Unit 1 steam generator at the Koeberg power station has been removed from the containment building and placed into an on-site storage building – a development that Eskom describes as a major milestone for a project that has had numerous false starts during previous outages. However, the State-owned utility has also confirmed that, as a result of “unexpected challenges” during the current long-duration outage, the original return to service date of early June is “no longer achievable”.
Zimbabwe’s new 300 MW coal-fired power generating unit started feeding electricity into the national grid late on Monday, the State power utility said, as it moves to ease extended outages that have impacted businesses and households. The southern African country is expanding its 920 MW Hwange thermal power station by adding two 300 MW units at a cost of $1.4-billion, with 85% of the funding coming from China.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has reaffirmed his government’s policy of including nuclear power in the country’s future energy mix, World Nuclear News has reported.
He was addressing the 2nd Africa Nuclear Business Platform conference, which was held in the country’s capital, Kampala, last week. The conference also saw Uganda sign two international Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on nuclear cooperation and development.
The sixty-day period for public comment on Koeberg nuclear power station operating beyond its licenced timeframe in 2024 has lapsed on March 16.
The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) will now consider the written representations received from January 8 and announce in due course whether further public debate on the extension of the licence is necessary, keeping mind of health, safety and environmental issues.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) reports that 15 renewables refinancing applications have been approved under an initiative launched in October 2019 that sought to reduce tariffs arising from private generators procured during the initial bidding rounds of the renewables procurement programme. The department claims that the refinancing concluded to date will result in nominal savings of about R4-billion over the remaining terms of the respective power purchase agreements.
Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy’s decision to allow Eskom to operate its Kusile power station without the use of flue gas desulphurisation signals “urgency in a time of crisis” and is a welcome decision in the context of South Africa’s electricity crisis, says Business Unity South Africa (Busa). The organisation notes that the continued integrity of the electricity depends on the Medupi and Kusile power stations being operational.
Industry organisation the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (Sapvia) has begun to track the uptake of private generation projects for different technologies. “As a start, we are tracking the National Energy Regulator of South Africa- (Nersa-) registered projects. We’ve already observed exponential growth in the registration of generation facilities. We anticipate that amendments to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act will further catalyse the deployment of renewable energy technologies,” says CEO Dr Rethabile Melamu.
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