South32’s Hillside smelter, Solana to introduce sustainable energy in Richards Bay

Diversified miner South32’s Richard’s Bay-based Hillside Aluminium smelter has partnered with energy company Solana Energy to transform the Richards Bay and King Cetshwayo district economic regions and bring much-needed sustainable energy to these commercial hubs.

The partners will embark on a multi-phased project to establish solar power infrastructure, develop a skills development programme in the renewable energy space and roll out an installer base for power solutions.

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SAWEA calls for strategic plan to resolve energy crisis

Amid the crippling power outages gripping the country, industry organisation the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) is calling on the South African government to lead the development of a comprehensive strategic plan to resolve the energy crisis and prioritise it with the same gravitas and urgency that it tackled the Covid-19 pandemic. SAWEA believes that, together, all stakeholders have the expertise to devise a coordinated response that will deliver a workable solution to mitigate this crisis that is a precondition to addressing the economic recovery, the organisation emphasises.
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Eskom rejects Tshwane’s debt repayment plan

Eskom has rejected the City of Tshwane Municipality’s offer to enter into payment settlement arrangements for R878-million owed to the power utility. Tshwane failed to pay Eskom a total amount of R908-million, which was due and payable by 17 June 2022. The municipality only made a payment of R10-million on 23 June, and R20-million on 30 June 2022, Eskom said.
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Load-shedding back for eThekwini in coming weeks

Durban residents will experience load-shedding in coming weeks, this after eThekwini Metro’s electricity infrastructure was so heavily compromised during the April floods that the City could not produce enough power to load shed. In a joint statement released on Monday, Eskom and the City of eThekwini said Durban had been exempt from load-shedding after the April floods, which saw around 400mm of rainfall which severely damaged infrastructure.
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Eskom working on grid-access Web portal to improve connection visibility

Electricity utility Eskom is developing a Web-based portal that will offer real-time visibility of locations in South Africa where new generators can be immediately or easily connected to the grid. The utility has, for the past three years, been arguing that between 4 000 MW and 6 000 MW of additional capacity is required to address load-shedding and to provide time and space for the maintenance of its neglected coal fleet.
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After week of bedlam and more Stage 6, unions’ wage decision expected on Tuesday

After a weekend of marathon meetings with Eskom leadership to reach a wage agreement with unions, labour is likely to emerge with a position on whether to accept the power utility’s latest wage offer on Tuesday. The unions – the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), and Solidarity – resumed wage negotiations on Friday after a deadlock in wage talks triggered strike protests at several Eskom plants, hindering vital maintenance work and plunging the country into Stage 6 load shedding.
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Opinion: What does the climate debt guarantee deal mean for South Africa’s energy transition?

In this opinion article, international law firm CMS Africa infrastructure and projects senior consultant Gavin Noeth interrogates the recent climate debt guarantee deal offered to South Africa by wealthy nations including the US, the UK, Germany, France and the European Union.
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Diversification essential for country’s electricity supply security, BLSA says

It is essential that the country’s sources of electricity be diversified to ensure occurrences of load-shedding, as experienced particularly badly last week, stop happening, business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso emphasises in weekly newsletter. “We cannot rely on a single State utility any longer. We have known this for some time and had we acted more vigorously sooner, experiences like last week could have been avoided.
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Eskom extends daily power cuts for next week amid capacity shortage

South African State power utility Eskom said on Sunday it would extend daily power cuts all through next week as generation capacity shortage continues. Striking workers, delay in maintenance and creaking old thermal power plants have forced the monopoly power supplier of South Africa to implement one of the worst power cuts in more than two years.
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Focus on ‘core underlying issues’ to tackle load-shedding crisis – EIUG

Ending the current restrictions to the addition of new generation capacity and addressing Eskom’s deteriorating generation performance are key to arresting intensifying load-shedding, the Energy Intensive Users Group (EUIG) asserts. CEO Fanele Mondi said in a statement the recent illegal industrial action had escalated the crisis but stressed that the “core underlying issues” remained Eskom’s poor generation performance and the prevailing restrictions on the addition of new generation capacity.
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