South Africa, the world’s thirteenth-biggest source of greenhouse gases, will need to spend $250-billion over the next three decades closing down its coal-fired power plants and replacing them with green energy, according to a study. In addition to closing down the country’s coal-fired plants and building wind and solar power plants, money will need to be spent compensating coal-dependent communities whose livelihoods are threatened by the change, The Blended Finance Taskforce and the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University said. Most of the money will need to come from the private sector, according to the study.
Considering the economic objectives in South Africa and, despite the challenges facing the country, the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA) believes there remains a “big opportunity” to reduce the country’s carbon intensity. This opportunity, Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) green industries chief director Gerhard Fourie said, was largely approached through the NCPC-SA’s resource efficiency programmes, including the Industrial Energy Efficiency (IEE) project, and which assist industry to address water and energy use challenges.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has confirmed that it will implement the Operation Vulindlela recommendation that power purchase agreements (PPAs) should not be a requirement for registration of embedded generation projects below 100 MW. The regulator tells Engineering News that it is currently following procedures to inform the Nersa governors of the change to the registration requirement for qualifying projects.
Residents in the Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni municipalities are in for hefty tariff hikes for water and electricity. The two cities presented budget outlooks for the 2022-2023 financial year.
Ekurhuleni, the industrial hub of more than 3 million people to the east of Johannesburg, may have a head start in the race between South African cities to buy their own power to alleviate crippling outages imposed by the national utility. A program to procure as much as 700 MW of electricity that began in 2016 is coming to fruition, with one funder saying a project to build a 41 MW solar plant at a cost of about R1-billion will begin by the end of this year.
The Belgian government has announced that it will provide funding of €100-million for research into advanced small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). The money will be given to the country’s SCK-CEN nuclear research centre in tranches of €25-million a year, over four years. The announcement was made at a function marking the 70th anniversary of the SCK-CEN. “In addition to the substantial progress of renewable energy, the government has also decided to study other technologies which could make a contribution by 2050,” explained Belgian Energy Minister Tinne van der Straeten, speaking at the event. “This [funding] should allow [us] to verify whether sustainable nuclear energy is technically feasible. The researchers of SCK-CEN belong to the absolute world best and are now looking for major breakthroughs in both the technological field and in the field of passive safety, non-proliferation, minimisation of long-lived waste and economic feasibility.”
The Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) will be moving to a new 330 m3 green office at Growthpoint Properties’ River Park facility, in Mowbray, in Cape Town, on June 1 under a three-year lease.
River Park recently improved its green rating to a GBCSA 5-Star Green Star SA – Existing Building Performance v1 certification, with high scores for its land use and ecology, green transport access and energy and water savings.
Development finance institution the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed a collaboration agreement with the Mphanda Nkuwa Hydroelectric Project Implementation Office (GMNK) to develop a 1 500 MW hydropower project and associated transmission facilities to increase access to clean energy in Mozambique and other Southern African countries. The estimated $4.5-billion project will comprise a dam, a power station and a high-voltage transmission infrastructure of 1 300 km from the project site, in the Tete province, to the capital Maputo, and is scheduled for completion in 2031.
Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tshipane has welcomed the participation of mining companies and other local businesses in the two-day Energy Summit held in the province this week, saying it was important that these companies had joined discussions on how to implement a just energy transition. Addressing delegates at the summit, in Emalahleni, she said the provincial government was working closely with stakeholders such as power utility Eskom on a just transition programme. “Our intention is that such partnerships must assist, not only the transition to a carbon-neutral economy but also increase much-needed energy security through fostering renewable energy production, repurposing power stations and explore ways for creating opportunities for small businesses and decent work,” she added. The Premier acknowledged that there was concern that communities in the province would feel the ramifications of the shift away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources.
The City of Johannesburg will issue a request for proposals (RFP) for the procurement of electricity from independent power producers in three months, Executive Mayor Mpho Phalatse announced in her closing address to the two-day Joburg Energy Indaba. Phalatse said the procurement would be conducted on a phased basis and that she expected the first projects to be rolled-out over the coming 18 to 24 months.
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