Mahlako’s solar plant testament to wheeling model viability in South Africa

The Mahlako Energy Fund has announced that its 10 MW solar plant in Kathu, in the Northern Cape, has started commercial operation.

The project marks a milestone in that it is the first large-scale energy wheeling project in South Africa, providing clean energy to Amazon Web Services (AWS) through the Eskom grid.

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French nuclear group buys Rolls-Royce’s civil nuclear control business

French nuclear design, engineering, manufacture and construction company Framatome announced on Monday that it had completed its acquisition of Rolls-Royce Civil Nuclear Instrumentation and Control (I&C). This move strengthens Framatome’s worldwide development and deployment capabilities regarding I&C systems. More than 550 staff, who previously worked for Rolls-Royce, are now joining Framatome. Most of them are already based in France, concentrated at Grenoble.
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Wits Junction district heating project continues to exemplify solar cogen success

The 60 000 ℓ district heating project at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Junction student residence continues to exemplify the success of a solar co-generation project, and how a relationship with Austria is being developed through a partnership facilitated by the South African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative (Soltrain). Soltrain is funded by the Austrian Development Agency and co-funded by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ Fund for International Development, and is a regional initiative aimed at building capacity and demonstrating the potential of solar thermal systems in the South African Development Community (SADC) region.
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SAWEA supports $8.5bn green financing deal

The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) says it supports the first-of-its-kind $8.5-billion green financing deal announced at the COP26 climate talks earlier in November. SAWEA, on behalf of the wind power industry and South Africa’s broader renewable energy sector, says this deal – which comprises multi and bilateral grants, concessional loans, guarantees and private investment – will provide impetus for South Africa’s accelerated uptake of green energy.
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With South Africa set to breach 1 000 hours of load-shedding in 2021, concerns grow about …

With South Africa now officially experiencing its worst-ever year of rotational power cuts, there is growing concern about both the level and flow of financing for maintenance, as well as the utility’s capacity to implement. Initial calculations by Jarrad Wright, formerly of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Energy Centre, indicate that 15% of 2021 would have been load-shedding-afflicted once Eskom has fully implemented its latest round of announced load-shedding, which is officially set to continue until Saturday, November 13.
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Nuclear regulator assures that contamination incident at Koeberg did not involve reactors

The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) on Monday assured that a reported incidence of airborne contamination at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Plant (NNP) did not come from the nuclear reactor. Koeberg, which is owned and operated by State-owned national electricity utility Eskom, has two reactors and is the country’s (and indeed Africa’s) only NPP. (The SAFARI-1 nuclear reactor at Pelindaba, west of Pretoria, is owned and operated by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation and is a research reactor which does not generate any electricity.) The contamination was detected during a routine test of the Koeberg Security Central Alarm Station’s ventilation system. (During such tests, which are conducted on a regular basis, Iodine-131, which is radioactive, is used in tiny amounts to represent the kind of contaminant that the ventilation system has to filter out, in the event of a nuclear accident at the NPP.)
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Load-shedding escalates to Stage 4 until Friday

Stage 4 load-shedding will start at 13:00 on Monday, Eskom has announced. This follows a “major incident” in Zambia that affected power supply from Cahora Bassa, the power utility said on Sunday.
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South Africans need to be willing to change their ways if country is to address climate change

Addressing climate change will not be achieved without a massive willingness to change how South Africans currently do their jobs and live their lives, and will require unprecedented innovation, says business organisation Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso. “The challenge is that there will be trade-offs. Jobs are going to be lost in some parts of the economy as we shift from carbon-intensive forms of production to manufacturing based on renewable energy. We must ensure that those who lose [their jobs] have a stake in new activities that will arise.
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South African Investment Conference moved to March

President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his weekly letter, said the fourth South African Investment Conference, which would have been held this month has been moved to March next year owing to several events, including the local government elections, the Conference of the Parties (COP26) climate conference and the Intra-African Trade Fair, which will be held in eThekwini next week. Another important reason for holding it next year is that there will be far greater Covid-19 vaccination coverage by then, making both travelling and gathering easier, he said.
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Greater adoption of EVs may be able to help energy grids, panel finds

Electric vehicles (EVs) are increasingly being deployed to solve challenges of air pollution, rising fuel prices and global warming, but also to assist electricity grids as distributed energy sources, making use of large battery packs for more than just mobility.

E-mobility company Next Dimension MD Bjoern Chirstensen says EV batteries can support a multitude of energy applications, including driving, vehicle-to-home power, frequency regulation (as done in Denmark), peak and off-peak arbitration, vehicle-to-load such as power tools, vehicle-to-vehicle power and, importantly for South Africa, load-shedding mitigation.

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