Red Rocket’s Roggeveld wind farm achieves commercial operations

African independent power producer (IPP) Red Rocket’s first wind farm in South Africa, Roggeveld, has reached commercial operations. The project, situated on the border of the Northern and Western Cape province, has an installed capacity of 147 MW and a contracted capacity of 140 MW.
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City of Cape Town studying battery storage as part of strategy to end load-shedding

The City of Cape Town is at the preliminary stages of assessing the business case for the deployment of battery energy storage systems (BESS) as part of its evolving strategy to eliminate the threat of load-shedding for its residents. The city is already moving ahead with plans to procure 300 MW of renewables generation from independent power producers and generation development manager Shane Prins reports that BESS is also on the city’s radar.
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Cape Town looks to IPPs to make the city load-shedding resilient by 2027

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis is taking steps to protect the city from Stage 3 load-shedding by 2027 at a minimum – but preferably Stage 4 – in a move that he believes will facilitate “meaningfully faster” growth across the metropole. “Not only is it inconvenient to have load-shedding, but right now the energy crisis is the biggest handbrake on the South African economy.”
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Sonangol working to develop green hydrogen production strategy

Angolan State-owned oil and gas company Sonangol’s Research and Development Centre is working to develop a strategy to produce green hydrogen. It has been conducting conceptual and engineering studies in Angola to identify a site for the installation of a plant to produce green hydrogen and its derivatives for domestic and foreign consumption.
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Environmental groups opposed to Richards Bay gas power plant get High Court date

Environmental organisations the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) and groundWork have been notified that their case challenging the environmental authorisation by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) for a 3 000 MW combined cycle gas power plant, in Richards Bay, will be heard in the North Gauteng High Court later this year. It is the first court case in South Africa challenging the environmental authorisation of a gas power plant, and the litigation raises specific concern about an inadequate assessment of climate change impacts and alternatives to this project, which includes renewable energy.
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SAB signs PPA with waste-to-energy company

The South African Breweries (SAB) has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with black-woman-owned industrial-scale biogas waste-to-energy company Bio2Watt. Bio2Watt will supply SAB with renewable energy from its Cape Dairy biogas plant once it reaches commercial operation.
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Eskom readies for R5bn first phase of battery storage roll-out

State-owned electricity producer Eskom says it is in the final stages of pre-contract discussions for the first phase of its much-anticipated battery energy storage system (BESS) deployment, which will involve investments valued at about R5-billion. During Phase 1, the utility aims to introduce 199 MW/832 MWh of BESS capacity across eight sites, including:
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Scatec, partners to develop large-scale green ammonia facility in Egypt

Renewable energy producer Scatec has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), to jointly develop a green ammonia facility in Egypt with an initial production capacity of one-million tonnes a year and potential to possibly increase to three-million tonnes a year. The green hydrogen and ammonia facility will be located in the SCZone in the Ain Sokhna Industrial Zone and will be powered by renewable energy plants to be built in close proximity on an area of land allocated by the NREA.
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SAWEA urges Eskom to accelerate land designation process in Mpumalanga

The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has reiterated its call for increased power generation from renewable sources as the country buckles under another round of load-shedding.

The association highlights the ample opportunity available for independent power producers (IPPs) to build private generation plants, particularly in Mpumalanga.

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Eskom, Hawks swoop on cable theft syndicate in Mpumalanga

Power utility Eskom reports that its investigators, along with members of the Vosman South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Unit on March 8 arrested at least 14 suspects involved in alleged cable theft. The suspects were arrested during the raid of premises in Vosman, Mpumalanga. Large volumes of cables, comprising aluminium and copper, were found stored on multiple premises, including that of a scrap metal dealer.
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