President Cyril Ramaphosa on November 2 announced that South Africa had signed a political declaration with the governments of France, Germany, the UK and the US, as well as the leadership of the European Union, to establish a partnership to mobilise an initial $8.5-billion, or R131-billion, over the next three to five years through a range of instruments, including grants and concessional finance, to support the implementation of South Africa’s revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) through a just transition to a low-carbon and climate resilient economy. The Political Declaration represents a first-of-its kind partnership to turn these commitments into reality and a model for similar forms of collaboration globally.
A new National Business Initiative (NBI) study offers support for gas as a transition fuel in South Africa’s shift from coal in the production of electricity and synthetic fuels (synfuels). The study stresses, however, that this role should be confined in the electricity sector to the provision of flexible balancing capacity for the country’s growing fleet of variable renewable-energy generators rather than to offer so-called baseload. In the manufacture of synfuels, meanwhile, it is regarded as a lower-carbon replacement for coal, until cleaner solutions, such as green hydrogen, are fully commercialised.
Stage 2 load-shedding will be implemented from 16:00 on Tuesday afternoon until 05:00 on Wednesday morning. On Tuesday afternoon, a generation unit at Kusile power station tripped, adding stress to the power system.
Power utility Eskom will implement Stage 2 load-shedding from 16:00 on November 2 to 05:00 on November 3. This follows after a unit at the Kusile power station tripped on Tuesday afternoon. A unit each at the Matimba and Arnot power stations had also failed to return to service.
On Tuesday morning, Eskom warned that load-shedding may be implemented at short notice should any further breakdowns occur, or should some of the generating units not return to service as expected. It asked that South Africans reduce their power use, as the electricity system is “severely constrained”.
Development finance institution (DFI) the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $57.67-million loan to State-owned Eskom to harness battery storage technology that will increase electricity generation from reliable and efficient renewable energy sources. The funding, a concessional loan, will come from the Clean Technology Fund – a multi-donor trust fund under the Climate Investment Funds.
State-owned monopoly power supplier Eskom said on Friday it would lift all planned power cuts – locally called “load-shedding” – in the country from 8pm local time. The company, which runs a fleet of ageing thermal coal-fired power plants, had been implementing power cuts ranging from two to seven hours a day over the past week due to breakdowns at its sites.
The lack of electricity at the Johannesburg market since October 26 owing to cable theft is having a disastrous impact on the quality and safety of agricultural products, agricultural industry organisation Agri SA executive director Christo van der Rheede said on October 29. “During power outages, the market does not have the ability to supply power to the cold storage rooms. This has resulted in these storage rooms operating without cooling since October 26, with disastrous consequences to agricultural products. The value of stock in these cold rooms amounts to between R30-million and R61-million.”
The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has welcomed the announcement that 12 onshore wind projects have been included in Bid Window 5 (BW5) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) on October 28 announced the 25 preferred bidders for BW5.
Leaders of the Group of 20 wealthy economies are preparing to pledge to stop funding foreign coal-fired plants, but are still wrangling over climate objectives that are crucial to keeping global temperatures in check, according to a draft statement for this weekend’s summit.
The 11-page document seen by Bloomberg, which is still being negotiated by diplomats in Rome ahead of the meeting, shows key deliverables have yet to be agreed. The draft, dated Thursday, refers to the “existential challenge” of climate change.
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