UAE ratifies extradition treaty as South Africa pursues Guptas

The United Arab Emirates Embassy in South Africa said it has ratified an extradition treaty with the African country. The treaty was signed on April 11, the embassy said in a statement on Wednesday. Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation, confirmed the statement.
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Eskom moves to Stage 4 load-shedding from 14:00 to 22:00

Load-shedding will be increased to Stage 4 from 14:00 this afternoon until 22:00 tonight, after which it will revert to Stage 2, Eskom has announced. It says this is due to additional breakdowns of a unit at Medupi and two units at the Duvha power station, together with the high winter demand, as well as to ration the remaining emergency generation reserves, which have been depleted.
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Wind could produce affordable green hydrogen by 2030, Siemens Gamesa says

Wind power could make it possible to produce hydrogen without emitting greenhouse gases as cheaply as is currently feasible with fossil fuel energy by 2030, turbine maker Siemens Gamesa said in a white paper released on Wednesday. Policymakers see green hydrogen, which is made with renewable power without emitting carbon, as a vital tool to help shift economies away from planet-warming energy sources and to stave off climate change, but want to reduce its sky-high costs.
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Gas a bridge for South Africa to become a low-carbon economy

South Africa will need to use gas as a “very solid bridge” to ensure a just and inclusive transition to a low-carbon economy, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Business School professor Maurice Radebe has said. The feedstock’s acting as a bridge, he explained during a presentation at the Enlit Africa conference on June 8, is feasible when one considers that gas has 55% less emissions than coal.
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Stage 2 load-shedding from 5pm – Eskom

Stage 2 load-shedding will be implemented from 17:00 on Tuesday due to delays bringing generating units back online, Eskom said in a statement.  Eskom earlier warned that the power system was severely constrained. Breakdowns currently total 15 498 MW of capacity, while another 1 273 MW of capacity is unavailable due to planned maintenance. Unit 1 of the Koeberg power station has been offline since January for maintenance work. It was supposed to return to service last month, but this still hasn’t happened.
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Renewable energy organisations to host second series of business development webinars

Following a successful webinar series on business opportunities in the renewable energy sector in 2020, a second series started in May this year in collaboration between the South Africa Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) and the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA).

The 2020 editions served as a capacity building programme for aspiring renewable energy developers to share knowledge and drive effective change, while the second series is themed on developing the local renewable energy value chain.

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CapeNature takes Cederberg office off-grid

Biodiversity conservation organisation CapeNature is installing a 75 kW solar photovoltaic system at its offices in Algeria, in the Cederberg region of South Africa’s Western Cape.

The Cederberg wilderness is three hours outside of Cape Town and the organisation strives to continuously improve its reserves.

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Chinese small modular nuclear reactor demonstration plant approved for construction

The China National Nuclear Power (CNNP) company has received approval to build its small modular reactor (SMR) demonstration plant at Changjiang in China’s southernmost (and island) province of Hainan, “World Nuclear News” has reported, citing a CNNP notice to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. CNNP is a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC). The demonstration SMR is designated the ACP100. The project will be owned by the CNNC Hainan Nuclear Power Company, which is a subsidiary of the CNNP (and not a direct subsidiary of the CNNC). The full title of the actual SMR project is the Hainan Changjiang Multipurpose Small Modular Reactor Technology Demonstration Project.
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EU’s Green Deal will have wide-ranging impact on SA exports, cautions Van Zyl

Europe’s Green Deal is not just a vision or an idea, but a well-funded policy that is being implemented, and that is set to have a wide-ranging impact on South African exports, says Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) executive chairperson Dr Johan van Zyl. Van Zyl stepped down earlier this year as Toyota Motors Europe president and CEO.
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Masterplan to position South Africa as ‘globally significant’ renewables manufacturer

Department of Mineral Resources and Energy director-general Advocate Thabo Mokoena reports that government intends using the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan (SAREM), which is currently being drafted, to position the country as a “globally significant” producer of inputs used in renewable-energy plants. In a keynote address to the virtual Enlit Africa conference on Tuesday, Mokoena said the SAREM would help “coordinate the renewable-energy requirements” to support such an industrialisation drive and to boost manufacturing employment.
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