Ramaphosa says $8.5bn just transition partnership could become model for others

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the initial $8.5-billion to be mobilised over the next three to five years in support of South Africa’s just transition to a low-carbon economy, will facilitate the implementation of the country’s ambitious emission-reduction goals and develop a model for a just transition that could be used elsewhere. In a message to the COP26 Energy session held on November 4, Ramaphosa reiterated that South Africa required support to achieve its Nationally Determined Contribution targets, which would involve South Africa transforming its coal-dependent energy system at “unprecedented speed and scale”.
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Top-performing South African fund rides bet on energy stocks

South Africa’s top-performing equity fund has reaped the benefit of a wager that battered stocks, particularly in the energy sector, would flourish as economies rebounded from the worst of the pandemic. Blue Quadrant Capital Management’s Worldwide Flexible Prescient Fund has returned 125% this year, the most of any South African fund of at least 100 million rand ($6.5 million), and more than double its nearest rival. Additions made while Covid-19 ravaged markets in the first quarter of 2020 have proved key, said Leandro Gastaldi, who runs the R120-million portfolio.
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Natural gas key to Africa’s energy security, says AfDB’s Adesina

Natural gas remains key to Africa’s energy security and economic prosperity, even as political pressure grows to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels, according to the continent’s biggest development bank. “Gas is fundamental to Africa’s energy system,” African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Wednesday. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re pragmatic” and that a system is created to support long-term development, he said.
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India, UK International Solar programme seeks to connect 140 countries

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) on November 3 unveiled plans for the first transnational network of solar power grids, known as the Green Grids Initiative – One Sun One World One Grid (GGI-OSOWOG), at COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland. The initiative is aimed at connecting 140 countries to round-the-clock green and renewable power.
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Spanish firms seeking to sell stake in South African solar plant – sources

 Spain’s Grupo Cobra and SENER companies are seeking to exit their stake in the 100 MW Ilanga solar power plant, which supplies electricity to South Africa’s national grid, two sources with knowledge of the process told Reuters. Grupo Solar and SENER have hired bankers for the transaction, the sources said, in line with their strategies to exit minority stakes in up and running assets.
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Urgent need to address grid constraints in high-yield renewables areas – Magoro

Grid constraints in South Africa’s high-yield renewable-energy areas need to be addressed urgently, Independent Power Producer (IPP) Office CEO Bernard Magoro has again warned. Reflecting on the lessons learned from the most recent renewables procurement round during a Power Futures Lab webinar, Magoro said that government had been unable to procure several extremely competitively priced projects during bid window five (BW5) because of an absence of grid capacity.
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Ikamva consortium to build 1.27 GW of new wind, solar in South Africa

Wind and solar power consortium Ikamva will build 12 new wind and solar projects with a combined capacity of 1.27 GW have won preferred bidder status in Bid Window (BW) 5 of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The 12 projects, across onshore wind and solar, will generate enough clean energy to power a third of the yearly electricity demand of the City of Cape Town, and represent half of the total allocation in the BW, which was the most competitive to date and was almost four-times oversubscribed, wind and solar power multinational Mainstream Renewable Power says.
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$8.5bn climate package an ‘important first step’ in South Africa’s just transition

Eskom CEO Andrè de Ruyter describes the $8.5-billion (R131-billion) financing package announced at COP26 as “an important first step” in light of the fact that South Africa’s energy transition is expected to require investments of between $30- and $35-billion over the coming 15 years. He says that funding – pledged as part of a political agreement concluded with France, Germany, the UK, the US and the European Union – will support a socially and economically just energy transition in South Africa, while enabling the country to meet its new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets.
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Hydrogen can contribute over 20% of global carbon abatement by 2050

Hydrogen can provide the lowest-cost decarbonisation solution for over a fifth of final energy demand by mid-century – contributing a cumulative reduction of 80 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), the Hydrogen Council’s CEO Coalition has told delegates attending COP26, in Glasgow. To achieve that target, the coalition recommends strong public-private collaboration.
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DBSA commits to playing its part in a just transition to net-zero emissions by 2050

Development finance institution (DFI) the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) says it will play an active role and provide finance for a just transition that achieves net-zero greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.
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