With liquefied natural gas (LNG) expected to grow exponentially over the next five years, owing to the global drive to greener power generation, diverse consulting service provider Synergy Oil & Gas Consulting & Training senior energy manager Ismaeel Fataar says now is the time to upskill workers to keep up with international skills and technological developments. “South Africa currently relies heavily on Mozambique for the supply of LNG, but with training and the correct infrastructure developments in the sector, South Africa can attain supply independence.”
Tariffs and the legal framework governing the wheeling of electricity from independent power producers (IPPs), which are taking advantage of the recently declared 100 MW licence threshold, will be key factors in IPPs’ ability and willingness to feed surplus power into regional and national power grids, according to experts who spoke at a Nedbank Energy Dialogue on September 30. Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe gazetted an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act on August 19, following a directive from President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year, to increase to 100 MW the licensing threshold for private power producers, as part of government’s effort to reduce load-shedding.
Industrial equipment supplier Actum Group has recently supplied its Ball-Lok cable ties for installation of cable management solutions at one of the largest solar plants in South Africa.
State-owned electricity producer Eskom has identified a pipeline of ‘just energy transition’ projects valued at about R400-billion that it will seek to fund using concessional finance raised from international financiers that have committed to supporting decarbonisation initiatives in developing countries, including South Africa. Just Energy Transition GM Mandy Rambharos reported on Thursday that the pipeline includes wind, solar and gas and battery projects, some of which will be deployed at its decommissioning coal power stations, starting with Komati in 2022.
The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with State-owned power utility Eskom to start planning the execution of the takeover by City Power of electricity supply for 14 areas in Soweto and Sandton “The signing of the MoU is a great start towards implementing a long-term solution to power supply challenges in the City,” says mayor Mpho Moerane.
The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the (Republic of) Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (Kaeri), the South African State-owned entity announced on Thursday. The MoU was signed in a virtual ceremony, came into effect immediately, and has a term of five years. “Nuclear technology is essential to human life and, through this MoU, we are making this a global reality,” asserted Necsa Group CE Loyiso Tyabashe. The MoU will help advance Necsa’s vision, which is of becoming a celebrated nuclear and research agency in Africa and around the world.
The world’s multilateral development banks (MDBs) must boost their green ambitions to stop carbon emissions from soaring in the most powerful economies, according to the ‘Climate Transparency Report 2021’. Covid-19 lockdowns caused carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector to fall 6% in 2020, but a rebound of 4% is projected across the Group of 20 nations this year. Argentina, China, India and Indonesia are expected to exceed their 2019 emissions levels before next year.
Rich nations shouldn’t force South Africa to ban new coal-power projects and impose other conditions as a requirement for funding to help reduce its environmental footprint, the country’s energy minister said. Gwede Mantashe last month skipped a meeting with climate envoys from the UK, US, Germany, France and the European Union, where an initial amount of almost $5 billion in concessional loans and grants was discussed. South Africa’s environment and public enterprises ministers attended the talks, as did the deputy finance minister.
Power utility Eskom on Wednesday evening confirmed that load-shedding would be suspended from 05:00 on Thursday morning, but warned that there were still significant risks to some generating units, which could force Eskom to implement load-shedding at short notice should it lose further generation capacity.
“We have used the past six days of load-shedding to conduct some repairs to generating units and to continue with the maintenance programme.
“Even though we were able to replenish emergency generation reserves, we have had to continue relying on these to support power system over this period,” the utility noted in a statement.
The South African mining sector can remain internationally competitive and support socioeconomic development only if it drives decarbonisation and adapts to the global shift in commodity demand towards minerals used in green sectors such as renewable electricity and electric vehicles (EVs), a new study shows. However, the country will have to materially ramp up its exploration of the critical minerals required for emerging green technologies if it is to succeed in offsetting the decline in coal mining, as well as some platinum group metals (PGMs), notably palladium.
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