Delaying solar investment could prove a mistake

Solar solutions company Terra Firma Solutions chief business development officer Ben Snyman has said it would be a mistake to delay investing in a solar system to see if the price drops.   “Solar costs have pretty much remained constant for the last five years. Prior to that, it was substantially more expensive but over the last four or five years, it’s pretty much remained constant,” he said on March 29. 
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City of Cape Town to raise feed-in tariff for selling power back to the grid

The City of Cape Town will raise the feed-in tariff for households and businesses selling power back to its grid by 10.15%, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has said. The mayor on Wednesday delivered Cape Town’s budget speech before the council. The R69.9-billion budget targets spending in specific areas such as infrastructure, water and sanitation and energy.
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Juwi, Red Rocket reach financial close on 84 MW Eastern Cape wind project

Renewable energy developer Juwi South Africa has reached financial close on and started building an 84 MW wind project in the Eastern Cape.

The Wolf Wind project was successfully bid by Red Rocket in Bid Window 5 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).

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Companies, unions need to develop frameworks for dealing with impact of energy, water outages

Employers, their employees and trade unions need to develop framework agreements that set out how a company and its employees will respond to the impact of high levels of loadshedding, or even a grid outage, on the ability of the company and employees to perform their functions. This is the view of specialists from law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH), which emphasised that the parties must identify gaps in the Labour Relations Act to address these challenges and then develop a framework agreement that sets out how the company and its employees will respond.
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SAWEA points to some weaknesses in Energy Action Plan

The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) says there are a number of key focus areas in government’s Energy Action Plan that require additional intervention and swift action.

Although the association commends the progress already made with implementing the plan since mid-2022, it believes that, for the country’s energy security challenges to be addressed adequately, a holistic view of available renewable energy sources need to be taken into consideration.

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Stage 4 loadshedding returns on Thursday

For the first time in more than two weeks, South Africa will be hit by Stage 4 loadshedding, which is currently planned for Thursday evening. Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented until 05:00 on Thursday. Then, Stage 3 will follow until 16:00, which will then be escalated to Stage 4 until 05:00 on Friday morning.
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Irena’s La Camera says energy transition remains off-track

International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) director-general Francesco La Camera has warned that the global energy transition is off-track and called for a fundamental course correction.

He noted in an address during the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, which was hosted in March 28, that a successful energy transition demands bold and transformative measures that reflect the urgency of the present situation; however, he added that the effects of multiple global crises had frustrated these efforts.

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No new wind turbines connected to South Africa’s grid in 2022 – GWEC

Despite intense power disruptions, no new wind turbines were connected to South Africa’s grid in 2022, the Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC’s) latest report has confirmed. In 2021, South Africa recorded 668 MW of new wind installations, up from 515 MW in 2020, which increased the country’s overall installed base to 3 442 MW.
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CSIR energy storage testbed to support local battery value chain

A newly established Indoor Energy Storage Testbed equips the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to test the performance and reliability of lithium-ion batteries, as expressed by their storage capacity, lifecycle and depth of discharge. This will help build capacity in the South African battery industry, as lower-capacity clients, such as small and medium-sized enterprises, manufacturers and importers, will have access to indoor testbed facilities and overall market knowledge can be improved, the CSIR states.
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FNB launches new energy-related loan products for the middle class

Financial services company FNB has announced low-cost energy solutions for consumers ranging from R149 a month. Customers will have access to range of alternative energy and back-up power solutions on the FNB mobile application (app) and can pay for these over a 24-month period.   The service, which was revealed on March 27, is enabled through FNB Connect, with the bank promising customers would soon receive preapproved offers for these options too.  
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