Analyst sees renewables as only practical way to quickly boost South Africa’s electricity generation

Regarding increasing South Africa’s electricity generating capacity in the immediate future, wind, solar photovoltaic (PV) and hybrid power systems were the “only game in town”, affirmed EE Business Intelligence MD Chris Yelland on Monday. He was addressing the Energy Indaba conference in Cape Town. He pointed out that national electricity utility Eskom had about 100 generators (of different types) and that their availability had been declining for 15 years. Their current availability was about 56% or 57%. President Cyril Ramaphosa‘s desire to significantly increase this over the next two years was “physically impossible”, especially as Eskom had no reserve generating capacity. The long-term maintenance needed to increase availability would require further capacity to be taken offline, thereby worsening availability over the next couple of years!
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First two BW5 wind projects reach financial close

Two wind projects under Bid Window Five (BW5) of South Africa’s Renewable Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) have reached financial close – the first REIPPPP projects to advance to financial close since 2018 and also the first BW5 projects to reach the milestone. Located on the border of the Eastern and Northern Cape provinces, the projects are the Phezukomoya and San Kraal wind energy facilities with capacities of 140 MW apiece and which will be built by EDF Renewables and its partners, H1 and Gibb-Crede.
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Stage 3 loadshedding to be implemented on Monday and Tuesday

Eskom has announced that Stage 3 loadshedding will be implemented on Monday from 16:00 until 05:00 on Tuesday morning. It will then drop to Stage 2 until 16:00 on Tuesday, when Stage 3 will again be implemented until 05:00 on Wednesday. Stage 2 will then again be implemented until further notice. 
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CSIR statistics underline how significantly loadshedding has intensified during 2022

Statistics released by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) underlined how significantly loadshedding has intensified during 2022, which is the first year that the majority of the rotational cuts have been implemented at Stage 4, representing 4 000 MW of simultaneous cuts. It is also the first year since 2019 that Stage 6 loadshedding was implemented, and for far longer periods (nearly ten times longer) than was the case three years ago.
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Cape Town mayor outlines city’s plans to achieve energy autonomy from Eskom

Cape Town Metropolitan Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis on Monday highlighted the city’s programme to generate power locally and free the Metro from loadshedding (rolling power cuts) imposed by the national electricity utility Eskom. He was addressing the Energy Indaba conference being held in the city. “Loadshedding and rolling blackouts are the number one handbrake on the South African economy right now,” he pointed out. A manufacturing industry could not be developed under loadshedding conditions. Services could get by, for example, by installing solar power systems. But that was not an option for heavy industry. And economic growth was essential to eliminate the serious problem of poverty.
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Top Africa renewable firm sees South Africa power woes persisting

Africa’s biggest renewable power company said it will take years for South Africa’s electricity supply woes to ease after the government’s bias toward coal led to the collapse of wind and solar energy manufacturers. That legacy is being exacerbated by global supply chain issues that are slowing the construction of renewable plants, Chris Antonopoulos, CEO of Amsterdam-based Lekela Power, said in an interview.
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Philanthropies collectively show support for South Africa’s JET-IP

Several major nonprofit organisations have pledged their support for South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP) for 2023 to 2027. South Africa has committed to reducing its greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, subject to appropriate financial support and premised on enabling a just transition for affected communities and regions.
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M&R division awarded wind farm contracts worth R1.2bn

JSE-listed construction and engineering group Murray & Roberts (M&R) has announced that its trading division OptiPower has been awarded contracts by EDF Renewables.

The company was awarded the contracts together with Concor Construction, with which it has also concluded engineering, procurement and construction contracts for the Koruson main transmission substation and the 140 MW San Kraal and Phezukomoya wind farms, located on the boundary of the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape provinces.

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EIB’s €200m funding of DBSA to support 1 200 MW private renewables roll-out

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has extended a €200-million loan to the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to support the delivery of 1 200 MW of distributed renewables generation by private investors. The financing package, which is the largest-ever extended by the EIB to South Africa, was signed on Friday by EIB VP Ambroise Fayolle and DBSA CEO Patrick Dlamini on the side-lines of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
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Coal is king, insists Mantashe – as Ramaphosa is feted for green plan in Egypt

As world leaders fete President Cyril Ramaphosa for his green agenda in Egypt, his minister of mineral resources and energy insisted this week that coal will continue to play a critical part in electricity generation in South Africa. Gwede Mantashe believes coal, along with gas, nuclear and hydropower should be the main baseload.  Ramaphosa submitted South Africa’s R1.5 trillion investment plan to use less coal to a group of rich countries this week – to a rapturous response from the UK, US, Germany, France and the EU at the COP27 climate talks in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
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