Major South African mining company Exxaro Resources had based its ambitions regarding the global decarbonisation process on its realisation that its own transition process had to be inclusive, assured the group’s Executive Head: Sustainability, Mongezi Veti. He was participating in a panel discussion at the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2023, in Cape Town, on Wednesday. Exxaro was originally, and remained predominantly, a coal miner, although it was diversifying its portfolio, including …
European wind turbine original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Nordex says South Africa remains a key market despite the disappointment of the country’s most recent renewables bidding round when not a single wind project advanced to preferred-bidder status, owing to grid constraints in the Cape provinces. Nordex Energy South Africa MD Compton Saunders tells Engineering News that the development has prompted a reassessment of the country’s future wind-turbine potential by the company, which has an estimated 32% domestic market share.
The South African Local Government Association (Salga) has expressed hopes that President Cyril Ramaphosa will address municipal debt recovery, local government funding and the energy crisis as part of his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on February 9. This year’s SoNA takes place as South Africa struggles to deal with a significant energy crisis and a rising cost of living.
Ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s yearly State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on February 9, Organisation Against Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage has warned that empty promises will only deepen the distrust South Africans have towards the government. “The Edelman Trust barometer has, for many years, indicated that South Africans have one of the lowest rates of trust in its government, with distrust as the default position. If [Ramaphosa] continues to make empty promises, he will continue to widen this gap. We need believable implementation of the many plans that are promised. We need impact,” he said.
The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) on Tuesday urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to scrap the sugar tax, as well as suspend the fuel duty and road accident fund levies for the industry amid record levels of load shedding. In an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa – sent on behalf of the CEOs of Shoprite, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Tiger Brands, Burger King, British American Tobacco, Walmart-owned Massmart, Steers-owner Famous Brands and others – the CGCSA says that load shedding has “escalated catastrophically” and was crippling businesses.
The coal-to-renewables initiative of Seriti Green, the 91% black-owned and black-controlled Seriti Coal associate, came in for special praise at the interesting fireside chat between outgoing Eskom CEO André de Ruyter and outgoing Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter on the second day of the Investing in African Mining Indaba. Seriti Green is building a 900 MW wind farm in South Africa’s electricity heartland of Mpumalanga, much of which will be used by the coal mines of the Seriti group as part of a decarbonisation initiative.
From sunshine to rare minerals to a youthful population, Africa has the raw ingredients to make the green transition. Now it needs the finance. Take power. Exceptionally strong sun and vast swathes of desert mean Africa is the region with the highest solar generation potential over the long term, according to calculations by the World Bank. It’s now cheaper to build and operate new large-scale wind and solar farms in many parts of the world than to keep running coal or gas-fired power plants. With more than half of people in Sub-Saharan Africa living without electricity, expanding solar should be a no-brainer.
The global transition to low- and zero-carbon energy sources was a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Africa, just as the original Industrial Revolution had been for the West, highlighted Bushveld Minerals CEO Fortune Mojepalo at the Invest in African Mining Indaba 2023 conference in Cape Town. He was participating in a panel discussion. It had been estimated, he said, that it would be necessary to develop 400 new mines, worldwide, to supply the metals that would be needed for the energy transition and the production of electric vehicles. The metals required included cobalt, lithium, and the platinum group metals. Africa led the world rankings in six or seven of the metals essential for the energy transition.
ReNew Energy Global and Engineers India are among India companies advancing energy projects in Africa and the Middle East amid rising demand in those regions. State-run energy consultant Engineers India expects to finalise a nearly $25-million order for a chemicals and fertiliser plant in Nigeria, and is actively reviewing opportunities in oil refining projects across Africa, chairperson Vartika Shukla told Bloomberg Television in an interview in Bengaluru.
Eskom needs debt relief in combination with tariff increases to survive, said CEO Andre de Ruyter, who has led the utility for three years as South Africa’s power outages have intensified. The continent’s most-industrialised nation has had 100 straight days of electricity cuts because of supply shortages largely caused by unreliable coal-fired power plants. Fixing the energy crisis that’s crimping the economy has become a central focus for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government.
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