Renewables sentiment accelerated by pandemic, but ‘survival mode’ stands in way

Global lockdowns have highlighted the need for universal clean electrification as the natural environment has seemed to “rejuvenate spectacularly” in the wake of reduced human activity, offering a glimpse of what a cleaner world could look like, says global consultancy Kearney.

The Covid-19 pandemic’s abrupt arrival has disrupted the trajectory of many an industry and ushered in an unprecedented new socioeconomic era, the consultancy adds.

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juwi sponsors employee’s 7 000 km solo Atlantic rowing endeavour

Departing in December, Capetonian Zirk Botha – a former naval combat officer and adventure racer – will undertake a 7 000 km solo rowing trip from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, with renewable energy company juwi Renewable Energies South Africa sponsoring his feat.

Botha, who also works for juwi, is undertaking to row in support of the environment and climate change.

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Locally-produced fuel cells being used by army field hospital

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. Sashnee Moodley:
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SANEDI continues roll-out of cool roofs solution

While South Africa’s energy supply continues to fall short, government organisation the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) says it looks forward to continuing its roll out of an energy efficient cooling solution – known as ‘cool roofs’. Cool roofing involves the coating of roofs with a durable, reflective membrane which reflects the heat of the sun.
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Kibo’s UK subsidiary to acquire 9 MW flexible gas power project

Africa-focused energy company Kibo Energy’s wholly owned UK subsidiary Sloane Developments will acquire a production-ready 9 MW flexible power project. The acquisition in line with Kibo’s strategy to acquire and develop a portfolio of small-scale flexible power generation assets that will help balance out the UK’s national grid at critical times.
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EIUG appoints Mondi as new CEO

The Energy Intensive Users Group (EIUG), whose mining and manufacturing members account for over 40% of the electrical energy consumed in South Africa, announced the appointment of Fanele Mondi as its new CEO. Prior to joining the EIUG, Mondi worked at Eskom for over 23 years, 12 years of which were as a senior manager.
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Eskom launches new ‘system status’ portal in bid to begin bolstering transparency

South Africa’s electricity utility Eskom has added a new page to its website through which it is providing information relating to the status and performance of the power system, including the use of load-shedding as a mechanism to stabilise the national electricity grid. The webpage, which bears the prosaic title ‘System status and other related data’, is updated every 24 hours.
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Dube-Ncube congratulates CHEM Energy for opening S Africa’s first fuel cell company

KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube has congratulated CHEM ENERGY, a subsidiary of Taiwanese conglomerate CHEM Corporation, which has opened its $200-million fuel cell production factory in KwaZulu-Natal at the Dube TradePort Special Economic Zone. “This represents a milestone accomplishment for foreign investment, and we are excited to team up with CHEM and industry to help rapidly expand the adoption of this important technology and the growth of highly skilled jobs in this new industry sector,” said Dube-Ncube. 
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Bushveld creates new entity to provide vanadium electrolyte rental option

Aim-listed integrated primary vanadium producer and energy storage provider Bushveld Minerals, which owns high-grade vanadium assets in South Africa, has formed a special purpose company in partnership with Invinity Energy Systems (Invinity), named Vanadium Electrolyte Rental Limited (VERL).

VERL will provide a vanadium electrolyte rental option to Invinity’s customers.

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BLSA implores govt to take on energy, spectrum policy with equal urgency as pandemic

In her latest weekly newsletter, Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso questions why government could implement “urgent” policies for the Covid-19 crises, but not for energy or spectrum allocation, which are also long-standing urgent issues.

“The State acted fast [at the start of Covid-19], pulled together experts and worked hard to analyse the best options and then implement them to slow the spread of the disease. We had a glimpse of what is possible.

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