IFC could fund controversial gas-power ships in South Africa

The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) said it expressed interest in funding bidders in a South African tender for emergency power provision, including a Turkish supplier of gas-fired power plants on ships, putting it on course for a clash with climate activists. Karpowership, the Istanbul-based company, won the bulk of the bids in March and has until the end of July to secure funding and necessary approvals and agreements to make binding a pact to supply 1,220 megawatts of power for 20 years.
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Eskom highlights financial limitations as it mulls industrial applications for discounted tariffs

State-owned electricity producer Eskom confirms that it has been approached by customers in various industrial sectors with regard to possible applications for discounted Negotiated Pricing Agreements (NPAs), but says its weak financial position prevents widespread implementation. The first NPA submitted under a recently approved government framework for such deals is currently serving before the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), which has called for stakeholder comment on a proposed ten-year NPA for South32’s Hillside Aluminium smelter, in KwaZulu-Natal.
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NUM rails against Eskom’s claims on average staff salary

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has disputed claims by Eskom in a statement that the average salary of an Eskom employee stood at R737 000 per annum, contending that employees negotiating their salaries at a bargaining unit could not earn more than R650 460. The union said that the statement, in which the R737 000 figure was mentioned, was a show of bad faith from Eskom. A statement from NUM’s negotiators lamented what they called an “apartheid wage gap” at the power utility.
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Power generation woes in Ivory Coast and Ghana hit industry and neighbours

A drop in electricity generation in Ivory Coast and Ghana has left households and businesses fuming as well as cutting power supplies to neighbouring West African countries Mali and Burkina Faso, officials said. A prolonged dry season has reduced water levels at hydropower dams in both countries that in some cases could take months to resolve, hampering productivity, raising costs and hitting the economies of the world’s biggest cocoa producers.
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Regulator gears up to evaluate new discounted tariff deal for Hillside smelter

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has invited stakeholder comment on a proposed 10-year negotiated pricing agreement (NPA) between Eskom and the Hillside aluminium smelter, in KwaZulu-Natal, which is owned by South32 and is Eskom’s largest single customer. The proposed NPA is likely to attract much public scrutiny in light of the fact that the previous tariff agreement between Eskom and Hillside had been the subject of years of intense public scrutiny and criticism, including one proposal that supply to the smelter be terminated as a way of addressing growth-sapping load-shedding.
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‘New normal’ of elevated renewables deployments outlined in new market update

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has revised upwards, by 25%, its forecasts for renewable-energy capacity additions for 2021 and 2022 relative to those published in November, arguing that the platform is now in place for a “new normal” of elevated levels of yearly deployments. In its ‘Renewable Energy Market Update’, published on May 11, the IEA reports that additions, principally in the form of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind, surged by more than 45% last year to 280 GW.
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Redstone CSP reaches financial close, to start commercial operations in late 2023

Saudi energy generation and desalination company Acwa Power says construction has started on the 100 MW Redstone concentrated solar power (CSP) project after achieving financial close on the R11.6-billion project. Acwa, which is the lead shareholder in Redstone expects commercial operations to start in the fourth quarter of 2023.
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Windaba to return to Cape Town convention centre this year

The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has unveiled the theme for this year’s Windaba conference, ‘Renaissance of the Wind Energy Industry – Delivering Economic Benefits for South Africa’ . The two-day event, which returns to the Cape Town International Convention Centre following a virtual instance of the event last year, is scheduled to take place on October 7 and 8.
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‘Right policy changes’ could ignite R150bn in electricity investment by private firms

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), which is made up of some of South Africa’s largest domestic and multinational companies, estimates that private firms would move to invest billions in new power generation capacity in the near term should the rules governing embedded or distributed plants be changed to support such projects. CEO Busi Mavuso says BLSA believes that companies could invest some R150-billion in new plants, most of which would arise in the form of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy “which is currently the least-cost source”.
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Nersa urges stakeholders to join it in opposing Eskom’s latest court challenge

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) announced on Monday that it would oppose an Eskom High Court application seeking to review and set aside the Energy Regulator’s latest regulatory clearing account (RCA) determination. In an unusual step, the regulator also urged other stakeholders to join it in opposing the utility’s legal challenge.
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