UK-based global major industrial technology group Rolls-Royce recently signed, in rapid succession, two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) regarding the development and operation of small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power plants (NPPs). Rolls-Royce is leading a consortium, supported by both industry and the British government, to develop an SMR NPP for the UK and export (being referred to as the UKSMR). The UKSMR concept is to produce a low-cost NPP, whose components would be manufactured in a factory, using advanced manufacturing technologies to cut costs. The components would be assembled on site within a weatherproof canopy, to prevent the assembly process being disrupted, thereby also reducing costs. Each UKSMR would have a generating capacity of 440 MW.
The World Bank reports that Eskom’s large-scale battery energy storage initiative, which will involve the installation of battery energy storage systems (BESS) across up to eight sites, is being treated as a “flagship” initiative by the global development finance institution, which has committed $1-billion to support the deployment of battery technologies globally. In August, Eskom called for bids for the design and construction of a BESS to be installed at the Skaapvlei substation at Vredendal, in the Western Cape, where the group’s 100 MW Sere wind farm is already located. The system should have a minimum power capacity of 80 MW and an energy capacity of 320 MWh.
The march toward a greener global economy is headed into a more difficult second phase that will aim to replace carbon as an energy source, said panelists during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. Companies including Honeywell International Inc. and Schneider Electric SE are offering solutions to reduce carbon emissions in commercial buildings, the petrochemical industry and transportation that are being adopted now, which constitutes the first phase. But the replacement of carbon-based energy will be more difficult and require more breakthroughs, said Honeywell CEO Darius Adamczyk.
A report by Climate Transparency has cautioned the Group of Twenty (G20) countries against quick-fix Covid-19 stimulus packages that favour fossil fuel industries. The global partnership has a shared mission to stimulate a “race to the top” in climate action in the G20 countries through enhanced transparency.
President Cyril Ramaphosa used the platform of the third South Africa Investment Conference to underline the country’s potential to act a gateway to the African market, as he sought to reignite investor interest in an economy that has been underperforming for more than a decade and has been severely damaged since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2018, Ramaphosa set a five-year target of securing R1.2-trillion in new investment and in 2018 and 2019 combined investment pledges worth R664-billion across 102 projects had been made by domestic and foreign investors. To date, R172 billion of the committed amount had actually been invested.
Solar photovoltaic (PV) power users, both utility-scale and rooftop users alike, will have to start thinking about, and develop, ways in which the waste of solar power generation facilities will be managed at the end of their lives.
In terms of the industry’s regulatory requirements, the solar industry will have to comply with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations, which is currently in a draft form for public comment, as well as the National Environmental Management: Waste Act of 2008.
Britain will move up a ban on new petrol and diesel cars and vans to 2030 and is eyeing 250 000 new jobs as part of a green industrial revolution, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said as he tries to meet Britain’s net zero emissions climate target. Johnson is seeking to show his government is on track to deliver manifesto promises after a tumultuous few days in which he was forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone with Covid-19, and his most senior adviser, arch Brexiteer Dominic Cummings, was ousted.
South Africa’s Independent Power Producer (IPP) Office reported on Tuesday that more than 60 respondents had signalled their intention, by the October 31 deadline for doing so, to participate in the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP), through which government is aiming to procure 2 000 MW of so-called ‘emergency power’. IPP Office CEO Tshifhiwa Bernard Magoro told participants to a virtual panel discussion held as part of the third South Africa Investment Conference that there had been a high degree of interest in the “technology agnostic” programme, criticised by some commentators as including criteria that made it difficult for renewables and battery solutions to submit competitive bids.
The decommissioning of coal-fired power stations without repurposing of labour will considerably exacerbate the unemployment crisis in South Africa and, therefore, workforce relocation and the associated skills development it calls for, needs to be considered ahead of time.
Energy & Water Sector Education Training Authority CFO and acting CEO Mpho Mookapele stated this during the virtually held Solar Power Africa conference on November 17.
State-owned power utility Eskom expects to complete its socioeconomic impact studies by the end of March for the planned shutdown of the Grootvlei, Komati and Hendrina power stations, in Mpumalanga, which are the first of ten coal plants scheduled for decommissioning by 2040. The decommissioning of the three power stations is anticipated to take place over the coming five years and Eskom has initiated a process to assess the potential for ‘repowering’ some of the stations using alternative generation technologies, including renewables, gas, biomass, battery storage and hydrogen.
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