Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe is adamant that he is not to blame for continued loadshedding – even though his department oversees the procurement of generation capacity and not a single megawatt has been connected to the grid during his tenure. In a wide-ranging interview with News24 on Tuesday, Mantashe, who is also African National Congress (ANC) chairperson, not only continued to distance himself and his department from the crisis but doubled down on his comments that effectively accused outgoing Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter and staff at the power utility of treason.
EDF Renewables in South Africa reports that construction of its third wind project selected during the much-delayed fifth bid window (BW5) of government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) is under way after the 140 MW Coleskop project reached financial and commercial close on January 18. The project forms part of the 420 MW Koruson 1 portfolio that also includes the Phezukomoya and San Kraal wind projects, which achieved financial close on November 10.
The African Solar Industry Association (Afsia) has highlighted some of Africa’s dormant, “but brimming with potential”, sectors that can realise new sources of revenue and universal access to clean energy.
In its 2023 yearly ‘Solar Outlook’ report, which was released on January 18 during the World Future Energy Summit, in Abu Dhabi, Afsia outlines the main segments with major opportunities in Africa as being commercial and industrial (C&I), green hydrogen, solar-powered mobility and the productive use of energy (PUE).
Trade union Solidarity has served legal papers on the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to remove all bottlenecks standing in the way of private energy suppliers. Solidarity stresses that the future of energy in South Africa lies in less State and more private service delivery.
The most severe power cuts ever experienced in South Africa are threatening food and water supplies and disrupting the lives of millions of people, including chicken farmers. In the poultry industry, electricity outages have forced factories to pause round-the-clock operations for as long as half a day at a time. As a result, over ten-million birds designated for slaughter are still alive and consuming feed, creating a backlog that companies fear they won’t be able to fix.
Multistakeholder organisation the Global Battery Alliance (GBA) launched a proof-of-concept for its Battery Passport at the World Economic Forum’s yearly meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 18.
With the aim of establishing a sustainable battery value chain by 2030, the GBA’s Battery Passport is proposed as a key to facilitating the rapid scaling of sustainable, circular and responsible battery value chains to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement through electrification of the transport and power sectors.
The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) is hoping to convince Eskom to conduct an independent technoeconomic assessment of whether there is potential to extract more capacity from the constrained grid in the Cape provinces after none of the 23 wind projects that participated in the most recent public procurement round were appointed as a preferred bidder. In December, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe announced the appointment of only six utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, with a combined capacity of just 860 MW, as preferred bidders, following Bid Window Six (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
Zambia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a $2-billion agreement to build solar plants in the Southern African country that will increase its generation base by more than half. The joint venture between Zambia’s state-owned power utility, Zesco, and a UAE government-owned renewable energy company, Masdar, targets the development of 2 000 MW of solar power projects, President Hakainde Hichilema said in a statement on his Facebook page.
Aim- and AltX-listed renewable-energy-focused development company Kibo Energy will potentially introduce an additional revenue stream to its 2.7 MW plastic-to-syngas power plant, which resides within its 65%-owned Sustineri Energy subsidiary. This potential new revenue stream involves the production of synthetic oil from non-recyclable plastic waste, in addition to the production of electricity from syngas, which promises significant added benefits to the project.
The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) says Eskom’s 18.65% tariff increase comes at a time when the cost of living is already exorbitantly high for many South African households and businesses and will see investment being redirected from growth initiatives to survival efforts.
While the federation acknowledges that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, which granted Eskom the increase, has a difficult balancing act to manage, the increase has been granted when Eskom cannot provide sufficient electricity to its customers at the moment and into the foreseeable future.
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