The Portfolio Committee on Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment says it is generally satisfied with the compliance of chemicals company Sasol with its obligations on air quality; however, State-owned power utility Eskom is not complying with its obligations owing to delays encountered in its air-quality offset programme. This information comes from briefings received by the committee from the Department of Health on August 17 on the cost of air pollution in South Africa, as well as from Eskom and Sasol on their purported non-compliance with the environmental laws.
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter has outlined the case for leveraging South Africa’s transition to green energy to reverse the country’s “vicious cycle of deindustrialisation and unemployment” and to trigger a “virtuous cycle of local demand for local goods to create investment and jobs”. Delivering the Dr Hendrik Johannes van der Bijl Memorial Lecture during a virtual event hosted by the University of Pretoria and the South African Academy of Engineering, De Ruyter rejected the notion of South Africa abandoning manufacturing in favour of commodity exports and services.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) is still analysing the implications that a recent amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act, exempting grid-tied generation facilities below 100 MW from licensing, will have on its processes, rules and guidelines. However, fulltime regulatory member responsible for electricity Nhlanhla Gumede reports that Nersa views such registration primarily as an administrative process, rather than one where it will be expected to apply its regulatory discretion. Speaking during a Power Future Labs webinar on the implications of the reform, which was gazetted by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on August 12, Gumede said that approvals were likely to be delegated to Nersa officials rather than having the Energy Regulator deliberate on them at its formal meetings.
Solar technology and engineering expert Sola has launched its first engineering bursary. The bursary will pay for the tuition of a final-year electrical engineering student and provide them with a job opportunity as a graduate engineer in the solar photovoltaic (PV) field.
South Africa’s carbon-heavy fuels and chemicals group Sasol is poised to announce a “substantially higher” target for the reduction of its greenhouse-gas emissions following an intensive period of financial and organisational restructuring during its 2021 financial year. The JSE-listed group took far-reaching actions – including selling $3.8-billion-worth of assets, slashing capital expenditure (capex) and securing savings of more than $2-billion – to deleverage its unsustainable balance sheet without resorting to the $2-billion rights issue initially mooted.
Development finance institution the African Development Bank (AfDB) has reached financial close on financing agreements for a $20-million of concessional investment from the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (Sefa) for the Covid-19 Off-Grid Recovery Platform (CRP). The five-year, $50-million CRP blended finance initiative is designed to provide relief and recovery capital to energy access businesses, supporting them through and beyond the pandemic, the bank said on August 15.
The recent Generation Connection Capacity Assessment (GCCA) report published by State-owned power utility Eskom shows there is limited available capacity for renewable energy capacity to be connected to the Northern Cape grid, says renewable independent power producer Scatec sub-Saharan Africa GM Jan Fourie. Developers of new solar photovoltaic (PV) or wind projects should rather consider developing infrastructure in other provinces such as the Western Cape, North West, Free State or Limpopo.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) August 12 Gazetting of its amendment to Section 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act has been welcomed by State-owned power utility Eskom and the Western Cape provincial government.
The amendment permits private electricity generators to operate plants of up to 100 MW without a licence from the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, which Eskom, in a statement, says is a progressive step that will, over time, greatly assist in the effort to provide reliable and sufficient electricity for the economy.
Industry association the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) mourns the passing of Ntombifuthi Ntuli, the CEO of fellow industry body the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA). SAPVIA described her death as “a tragic loss of a bold and brilliant leader, who was instrumental in South Africa’s energy transition”.
An acceleration in the use of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and climate change mitigation efforts, growing population numbers and higher electricity demand per capita are all major drivers of electricity market growth and, resultantly, energy storage.
To this end, University of the Western Cape associate Professor Ben Bladergroen believes lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries are the best solution for energy storage and will continue to remain so for the foreseeable future.
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