Few municipalities in a position to implement embedded generation processes

Even though government paved the way for municipalities to generate or procure their own electricity from independent power producers (IPPs) a little under two years ago, only 25% of them are equipped with either a basic or comprehensive small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) process, or are putting one in place.

A further 25% of municipalities do not have the internal capacity to establish or manage these processes, but may come do so with some support, while the remaining 50% of municipalities are not in a state to handle any additional responsibility, owing to long-standing financial difficulty or mismanagement issues, Sustainable Energy Africa director Mark Borchers noted this week.

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Wits-developed minigrid solution set for retail debut

A homegrown expandable minigrid solution that researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) have been developing, testing and refining for several years has now been fully commercialised to be marketed and sold locally and throughout Africa as the Peco Powerbrick. The innovation is based on the pioneering work of academics and students at the university’s School of Electrical and Information Engineering who, under the direction of Professor Willie Cronje, have been working on an expandable and affordable offgrid solution for low-income African households since 2014.
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Steel industry backs temporary ban on metal-scrap exports

Members of the South African Iron and Steel Institute (SAISI) have come out in full support of the proposed six-month ban on the export of scrap metal from South Africa. SAISI members include ArcelorMittal South Africa, Cape Gate, Columbus Stainless, Force Steel, Scaw Metals, SA Steel Mills and Unica Iron and Steel, while Safal Steel and Grinding Media are affiliated members.
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Two big solar farms and a 19.9 MW hydro scheme on latest Nersa list of 35 project registrations

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has published a list of the most recent 35 renewables projects – including a 100 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project in the Northern Cape – to be registered following a recent market reform allowing for large-scale distributed generation projects to proceed without a licence. The projects were officially registered during the August 22 meeting of the Nersa regulator executive committee, which also registered the first two 100 MW solar PV projects in May and subsequently registered 16 distributed-generation projects in June, with a combined capacity of 211 MW.
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Sasol prepares to ramp-up decarbonisation capex from 2025

Energy and chemicals group Sasol expects to invest the bulk of the R15-billion to R25-billion it is budgeting to facilitate a 30% reduction in its carbon emissions by 2030 between 2025 and 2027, having spent only modest capital on such projects to date. The expenditure forms part of the JSE-listed group’s yearly ‘maintain and transform’ capital budget, which is expected to rise to between R26-billion and R27-billion in its 2023 financial year.
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Eskom considers cutting power to indebted South African capital

South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom is considering disconnecting the City of Tshwane, which includes the nation’s capital, Pretoria, due to the municipality failing to pay its outstanding debt. Tshwane breached the electricity supply agreement it has with Eskom by failing to pay R1.6-billion, which was due and payable on Aug. 17, the utility said in a statement on Twitter on Tuesday.
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Eskom, Saretec collaborate to train renewable energy artisans

State-owned utility Eskom and the South African Renewable Energy Technology Centre (Saretec) have signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to formalise the collaboration between the two entities in developing renewable energy artisan skills in South Africa to support the implementation of Eskom’s just energy transition (JET) strategy. In support of this strategy, Eskom has a pipeline of clean energy projects at various stages of development and has acknowledged that there is a “dire” lack of skills along the value chain.
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IPP Office outlines new Bid Window 6 timetable as it awaits key Nersa and Eskom approvals for …

The IPP Office has announced a new timetable for the upscaled sixth bid window (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPPP) through which government will be seeking to procure a whopping 5 200 MW of new wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity during a single bidding round. Proceeding with the full allocation hinges, however, on the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) securing the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) concurrence with a new Ministerial determination expanding the procurement envelop for solar photovoltaic (PV) beyond that catered for under the existing Ministerial determinations.
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Sasol warns carbon tax could prompt it to scale back operations

Sasol, South Africa’s second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, sees carbon taxes posing a “significant risk” to its business and warned current proposals could cause it to curtail operations and green initiatives. The government sees the taxes as key to meeting its goal of producing net-zero emissions by 2050, but has faced intense lobbying from companies to make them less onerous.
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Eskom warns of Stage 2 load-shedding at peak hours this week

After three days without load shedding, Eskom warned that Stage 2 load-shedding might be implemented at short notice from 16:00 to 24:00, the peak evening hours, over the course of the week.  This is due to power station breakdowns and delays in returning some generating units to service.
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