Load-shedding will escalate to Stage 4 at 10:00 on Tuesday morning, and will last until 05:00 on Thursday, Eskom has announced. This was after three units Kendal Power Station, with 1 920 MW maximum generating capacity, suddenly tripped.
State-owned utility Eskom will continue to implement load-shedding for the rest of this week, with the potential for the stage to be either increased or decreased on short notice, depending on the units being returned to service or further breakdowns, COO Jan Oberholzer indicated during a briefing on September 12. As previously communicated by the entity, Stage 3 is currently being implemented, and will continue until 05:00 on Tuesday morning. From then, Stage 2 will be implemented for the rest of the week, until midnight on Friday.
The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) welcomes the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) amendment of its request for proposals (RFP) for Bid Window 6 (BW 6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The amended REIPPPP BW 6 RFP, which was released on July 7, doubled the wind energy allocation to 3 200 MW for the bid window, thereby making up the majority of the increased allocation of 4 200 MW across all technologies.
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) believes its R14-billion green-economy project pipeline could provide the platform for a strong recovery in investment funding, following a sharp drop over the past two years. The State-owned development finance institution disbursed only R7.2-billion during its 2022 financial year, during which funding approvals rose to R16-billion.
A global increase in demand for renewable energy solutions is complicating global supply chains and capacity at the same time that South Africa is planning an aggressive ramp-up in its renewable energy plant build rates, says Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso.
She also states that she finds “little solace” in South Africa sharing an energy crisis with many other countries, having experienced Stage 4 load-shedding over the weekend.
Following the regulatory change in August 2021 to raise the licensing limit for distributed generation projects from 1 MW to 100 MW, the first two registered 100 MW energy projects have reached financial close. The financial close of the projects happened less than six months after the power purchase agreements were signed in mid-March. Construction of the projects will now begin.
Government has confirmed that the procurement allocation for Bid Window Six (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) has been scaled back to 4 200 MW from the 5 200 MW announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on July 25. The National Energy Crisis Committee announced on Sunday that the decision to proceed with a 4 200 MW request for proposals (RFP) had been decided so as to ensure that the procurement process was not delayed, given that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) still needed to concur with a Ministerial determination opening the way for the procurement of more solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity.
Stage 3 load-shedding will be implemented from 14:00 on Friday until 05:00 on Monday morning, Eskom said in a statement on Friday afternoon. After that, Stage 2 load-shedding is foreseen for the rest of the week – continuously.
The City of Cape Town says the landfill gas well field and flaring system at its Vissershok Landfill will soon begin operation, complementing existing systems at the Coastal Park and Bellville landfills. The city says it is also making steady progress toward the generation of electricity from landfill gas, as part of a dual effort to reduce emissions associated with landfill sites, and reduce reliance on Eskom.
South Africa’s indebted power utility Eskom Holdings restarted the sale of its mortgage unit, one of many measures the utility is taking to stabilise its finances. Eskom “commenced with a process” to sell Eskom Finance, which has a R9-billion loan book, by inviting prospective bidders, the company Thursday said in a response to emailed questions.
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