A decarbonised economy requires not only investment in renewable energy, but also exploring and integrating other options to decarbonise industrial processes that comprise about 75% of total carbon emissions, says financial advisory services company Cresco Group senior associate Dominic Goncalves. Although most of the focus is on renewable-energy sources when trying to reduce carbon emissions, electricity production comprises a small portion of carbon emissions associated with industrial processes.
The South African economy is dependent on fossil fuels for its energy needs. Therefore, a “Just Transition” requires a whole-of-society approach, says chemical engineering Emeritus Professor Eugene Cairncross – formerly at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and working with the Life After Coal campaign. Life After Coal is a joint campaign by nonprofit environmental organisations Earthlife Africa Johannesburg and groundWork, along with non-profit environmental rights law firm Centre for Environmental Rights.
Africa’s transition to cleaner fuels and power generation presents investors with opportunities across the value chain, but more direct financing is needed on projects, the head of a South African independent power producer, said on Thursday. Brian Dames, chief executive officer of African Rainbow Energy & Power, said the shift to cleaner energy in South Africa for example, meant a massive addition of new generation capacity with strong growth potential.
City Power has hired 52 new in-house electricians to lessen the utility’s reliance on contractors. It will employ an additional 248 electricians by 2023.
Electricity utility City Power on December 1 deployed 52 newly appointed electricians to lessen its reliance on contractors and foster area-specific accountability in the Johannesburg power network. The electricians will be posted in problem-prone sections of the City Power network and assume direct responsibility for sections of the grid.
A truck driver and his supervisor were arrested for allegedly swapping out good-quality coal, and delivering sub-standard product to Eskom’s Matla power station on Monday. “The arrests took place after the truck driver was found to be in possession of sub-grade coal destined for the facility. The coal swapping allegedly took place at a known illegal coal yard in the Mpumalanga area, prior to the delivery being made at the Matla power station,” Eskom said on Wednesday.
The South African government has imposed a six-month ban on the export of copper and copper-alloy scrap, as well as most ferrous scrap as part of the first phase of a three-phase intervention designed to combat the rampant theft of metals used in public infrastructure. The economic damage of ongoing theft and vandalism has been estimated at R47-billion and has amplified both loadshedding and the disruption of freight and passenger rail services.
South African battery storage pioneer Freedom Won, which is on a rapid, loadshedding-fuelled expansion path, is ramping up production at its newly expanded 15 000 m2 factory in Honeydew, Gauteng, to exceed the current production of 50 MWh of batteries every month – enough energy storage to support around 5 000 South African households in combination with solar power. The latest expansion, which is unlikely to be its last, forms part of an ongoing upscaling of the enterprise that belies its humble beginnings in 2009, when cofounders Antony English and Lizette Kriel decided to establish a company with some initial funding support from family members.
Two security guards employed by a company contracted by Eskom to protect the Port Rex power station in East London were arrested on Monday for allegedly stealing almost 6 000 litres of diesel. According to Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha, the guards were arrested while on duty. The stolen diesel is valued at just under R146 000.
Professional services firm PwC South Africa’s eleventh and final South Africa Economic Outlook report for the year, coming in the wake of the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties (COP27), focuses on opportunities and actions to improve power supply and energy sustainability in the country. Earlier this month, some PwC Africa leaders attended COP27 in Egypt and observed that providing clear evidence of decarbonisation is a powerful differentiator for organisations in an environment where having such targets is merely a licence to operate.
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