Global governmental clean energy spending up 50% over past five months

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) Sustainable Recovery Tracker’s latest update shows that clean energy spending earmarked by governments in response to the Covid-19 crisis had risen by 50% over the past five months to more than $710-billion worldwide. However, “troubling” imbalances persisted between regions.
/by

Eskom aiming to unlock 1 000 MW through Mpumalanga land lease bidding process

State-owned electricity utility Eskom has initiated a bidding process for the leasing of generation land in Mpumalanga to independent power producers (IPPs) and CEO André de Ruyter indicates that there is sufficient grid capacity available to support renewables projects with a combined capacity of about 1 000 MW. Speaking following the resumption of load-shedding on April 11, De Ruyter said the request for proposals (RFP) documentation had been issued on April 8, with a closing date for submissions of April 29.
/by

LHDA awards Polihali Operations Centre construction contract

L&M, a joint venture between Lesotho company LSP Construction and South Africa-registered Mofomo Construction, has been awarded the tender for the construction of the Polihali Operations Centre by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA). The construction of the centre is a critical component of Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project’s (LHWP’s) advance infrastructure.
/by

Stage 2 load-shedding to resume at 17:00

State-owned power utility Eskom said that Stage 2 load-shedding will resume at 17:00 on April 12 and will again be suspended at 05:00 on April 13 owing to the continued shortage of generation capacity. Load-shedding had been suspended at 05:00 on April 12, after being implemented from 18:00 the night before, but the constrained supply situation will persist throughout the week, with the possibility that more load-shedding is likely to be implemented should the generation capacity deteriorate further, the utility says.
/by

GWO, GWEC partner up to map out global energy transition workforce training needs

International trade association the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and nonprofit industry body the Global Wind Organisation (GWO) have signed a new two-year agreement to map out workforce training needs. This is being done in an effort to support the development of renewable energy by helping meet the demand for skilled workers who are needed to fill an increasing number of jobs that will be are being created during the global energy transition.
/by

Decarb.Earth to aggregate projects, help SMEs in South Africa decarbonise

London-based sustainable power start-up Decarb.Earth aims to enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) reduce their emissions by aggregating SME decarbonisation projects on a platform to make investments by financiers more attractive. Large corporates may be able to tap funding from banks and other lenders to transform their energy sources, installing large-scale projects that have the potential to feed excess energy back into the grid for profit.
/by

Creecy insists move to appeal Highveld air pollution judgment is not designed to delay regulations

Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy has moved to appeal parts of a landmark High Court judgment recognising air pollution as a violation of the Constitutional rights of citizens living in the Highveld Priority Area – a 31 000 km2 region that includes parts of Mpumalanga and Gauteng. The judgment was handed down by Judge Colleen Collis on March 18, after environmental justice group groundWork and Mpumalanga community organisation Vukani approached the court for an order stipulating that regulations be published to govern the air-quality improvements required to meet the goals of a plan published in 2012, yet never implemented.
/by

Nersa to hold public hearings on municipal electricity tariff increases

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) on April 9 said that, while it had published a consultation paper on municipal guideline increase and tariff benchmarks for public comment last week, it has decided to hold a public hearing at a later date to give stakeholders a further opportunity to engage on the issues raised in the consultation paper. The energy regulator initially opted not to hold public hearings on the key issues reflected in the consultation paper on the municipal guideline increase and tariff benchmarks, and followed a notice and comment process owing to the fact that, in the past, few to no presenters attended the public hearings to make representations to Nersa, it said.
/by

SAPVIA welcomes launch of REIPPPP Bid Window 6

Industry association the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) has welcomed the commitment shown by government with the launch of Bid Window (BW) 6 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). Following closely on the announcement of preferred bidders for BW 5, this new BW is critical in the drive to get much-needed additional generation capacity, and ultimately kilowatt-hours, onto the grid, the association emphasises.
/by

ST Energies signs MoU for filling station solar solution

French fuel and energy multinational ST Energies has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Shell filling station in Worcerster, in the Western Cape, to implement a sustainable solar solution that will allow the station to achieve carbon-neutral status. The initiative is designed to deliver reliable power to filling stations using a combination of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, batteries and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) backup to keep them off the grid and operational.
/by