Power utility Eskom has announced that, owing to insufficient generation capacity and the inability to replenish emergency reserves over the past weekend, Stage 2 load-shedding will continue to be implemented throughout the week of November 8 to 13. Eskom notes that, on November 7, a unit each at the Medupi and Matla power stations had tripped.
The Namibian government has stolen a hydrogen march on its larger neighbour South Africa announcing at COP26 the selection of HYPHEN Hydrogen Energy as the preferred bidder for a $9.4-billion green hydrogen project to be developed in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park, near the coastal town of Luderitz, in southern Namibia. HYPHEN is a joint venture between Nicholas Holdings Limited, a strategic investment and infrastructure project developer, and ENERTRAG South Africa, a unit of an independent German energy company that has a portfolio of renewable energy projects and which has also been producing green hydrogen since 2011.
A request for information (RFI) has been issued to assess the implementation options and market appetite for the creation of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import hub at the Port of Ngqura, in the Eastern Cape. The RFI is designed as an information gathering exercise to inform a future procurement programme and a deadline of 12:00 on December 3 has been set for responses.
A 10 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant developed by renewable energy plant developer SOLA Group, in the Northern Cape, has reached commercial operation three months ahead of schedule, providing clean energy to Amazon Web Services through wheeling into the Eskom grid. The plant comprises over 24 000 bifacial single-axis sun-tracking modules, covering an area of 20 ha.
The City of Johannesburg is considering waste-to-power projects to generate electricity, particularly in times of load-shedding. Environment and Infrastructures Services deputy director Mvuselelo Mathebula mentions in a press statement that key projects have been lined up to divert waste from landfill sites by recycling and using it to generate electricity.
Stage 2 load-shedding will start at 11:00 on Friday, Eskom announced Three units at the Kendal power station were taken off and it is anticipated that the fourth and remaining unit will also be shut down. The conveyor belts supplying these units are currently not running due to a power fault.
Diversified miner Exxaro Resources, geared with both a Sustainable Growth and Impact Strategy and A Climate Change Response Strategy, hopes to garner investor interest at this year’s COP26 climate change summit.    The company has been setting out to become a principal driver of the just energy transition in South Africa over the past few years, all while targeting carbon neutrality by 2050.
With the new amendments to the Carbon Tax Act earmarked to pave the way for developing a national standard to approve offset carbon positive projects and administer these projects on a national database, Economic Development Solutions (EDS) head of business development Eckart Zollner says compliance by companies nationally is important to participate in global markets.
Given global demand for carbon-neutral products, industrial equipment manufacturer Atlas Copco Industrial Southern Africa is increasing its range of electric equipment, such as its mobile e-air compressor, says business line manager David Stanford.
Funding Africa’s transition to net zero by 2050 is one of the most pressing issues that Africa and the world must address, PwC states in a new report that estimates the cost of such a transition to be about $2.8-trillion. The ‘Africa Energy Review 2021’ calculates that $33-billion would be required yearly between 2020 and 2030 to place Africa on a path to a net-zero energy mix by 2050. Yearly costs would then rise substantially to $111-billion between 2030 and 2040 and to $142-billion between 2040 and 2050.