International rivers and river communities rights nongovernmental organisation International Rivers has called on South Africa to withdraw its agreement to offtake electricity from the Inga 3 hydropower project being built in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). South Africa continues to uphold its commitment to procure power from the delayed Inga 3 hydropower dam, but the power imported from Inga is expected to cost R175-million a year more than domestic power generation, the NGO avers.
South African adventurer and former naval officer Zirk Botha is days away from finishing his solo transatlantic ocean row, from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro, during which he will have covered 7 200 km, or 4 000 nautical miles. Botha left Cape Town on December 19, 2020, and is set to arrive in Rio de Janeiro on the weekend of February 28, 2021.
The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), in the Northern Cape, has added a new 53 kW solar installation to its grid-tied 40 kVA solar rooftop system. This follows after a system installed on the workshops of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) provided one year of operational data that convinced the SALT board that a similar-sized system would work on the SALT stores roof.
JSE-listed Sasol announced on Monday that it would pursue a 900 MW renewable-energy roll-out at its Secunda and Sasolburg complexes by 2030, raising its initial deployment target of 600 MW by 50%. President and CEO Fleetwood Grobler said that the upscaled plan would be pursued in partnership with others, including Air Liquide, which recently acquired Sasol’s 16 air separation units at Secunda for R8.5-billion.
Ocean energy professional network Ocean Energy Europe (OEE) has appointed risk and insurance consultancy Renewable Risk Advisers to carry out the design of a brand new European and European Union-funded insurance fund for the ocean energy sector as part of the OceanSET project. The project is expected to cut the costs of the first commercial projects and accelerate the roll-out of this new industry.
Energy storage coupled with renewable energy ensures less intermittent supply of power, thereby solving balancing and system reliability issues, the Africa Energy Indaba stated in a January press release.
As demand rises for more accessible renewable energy, the Africa Energy Indaba conference discussions are set to underscore various new avenues for innovative financing to steer Africa’s ever-changing energy landscape towards sustainability.
Africa’s oil and gas potential will grow significantly over the next two decades, driven by population growth, urbanisation and the emergence of a wealthier middle class in Africa, according to the Africa Energy Indaba, which will take place virtually from March 1 to 5.
Coal demand from State-owned power utility Eskom is expected to normalise, following low demand over the past few months, diversified miner South32 COO Mike Fraser said during a media call to discuss its interim results, on February 18. He said the maintenance work being undertaken by should result in an increase in pull demand for coal, which should return to normal levels in the future. 
Fast-moving consumer goods company the Shoprite Group has expanded its solar photovoltaic (PV) programme, with 19 of its sites in South Africa and Namibia now boasting rooftop PV installations.

There are now 18 Shoprite Group stores throughout South Africa and Namibia that use solar power, including Checkers stores in Plettenberg Bay Mall, Woodlands, Parys, Sitari, Gordons Bay, Constantia, Hermanus and Whale Coast Mall.