Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana maintained focus on fiscal discipline and balancing the need to address socioeconomic challenges facing the country, industry organisation Minerals Council South Africa said in response to the Minister’s Budget Speech on February 21. South Africa, however, needs faster growth of private and public sector fixed investment, and rapid implementation of deep structural reforms to allow the private sector to participate in key areas of the economy, it stressed.
The South African government will release a request for proposals (RFP) in the coming months seeking private sector investment into a pilot electricity grid infrastructure project. The National Treasury confirms that government has been working in partnership with the International Finance Corporation on the short-term options for “off-balance-sheet financing to accelerate private-sector investment in transmission, without negatively affecting Eskom’s balance sheet and the fiscus”.
Data centre infrastructure and services company Teraco will start construction of a 120 MW utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) facility in the Free State after securing its first grid capacity allocation from State-owned Eskom. The grid capacity allocation enables it to connect the planned 120 MW solar facility to the national electrical grid. The power generated will be wheeled across Eskom and municipal power networks to Teraco’s facilities across South Africa.
Bold, scaleable and collaborative – these are the three characteristics of the project that will clinch the $1-million Milken–Motsepe Prize in Green Energy, says Milken Institute senior director Dr Emily Musil Church. The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank bringing together “the best ideas and innovative resourcing to develop blueprints for tackling some of our most critical global issues”.
Johannesburg power utility City Power would, on behalf of the Gauteng government, add 100 MW of electricity capacity to the grid to assist the Gauteng province in its goal to reduce the impact of loadshedding on residents. The 100 MW would be generated using open-cycle gas turbine technology and this would later be expanded to 300 MW, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said in his State of the Province Address on February 19.
Since launching its HotBot devices for smart geyser management in 2020, energy solutions developer Plentify has recorded considerable energy savings across its user base, as well as lower demand surges to the grid following loadshedding. Fifteen years since State-owned power utility Eskom started implementing loadshedding, the scheduled power cuts are still wreaking havoc on the economy, including through impacts on power infrastructure and household finances. However, tools such as HotBots help to address some of these issues, says Plentify.
State-owned utility Eskom has noticed an escalation in homes and other structures being built within power line servitudes, which is the land below and adjacent to a power line. “This is not only against Eskom regulations but also poses a number of safety risks. We therefore appeal to the public to stop doing this,” Eskom has emphasised in a statement.
Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy reports that the Climate Change Response Fund announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) has been established to support the development of early-warning systems, as well as for adaptation projects to improve the climate resiliency of infrastructure amid the growing threats posed by extreme weather events. Addressing the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) in Johannesburg, Creecy said that there was also potential to use the fund as a “channel” for financial resources that could be made available to developing countries following the recent operationalisation of a loss and damage fund.
Eskom has announced that it will be reducing loadshedding to Stage 2 from 10:00 on Friday, following the return of additional generating units. The utility says emergency reserves are also adequate and it expects lower electricity demand.
Gas is a key enabler for economic growth and social development in the Southern Africa region, and a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, says joint venture (JV) Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Investments Company (Rompco) CEO Mlandzeni Boyce, who underscores the importance of gas as a “transitional bridge between coal and renewable-energy sources”. Established as a JV between the governments of South Africa – represented by the South African Gas Development Company (iGas) – and Mozambique, represented by Companhia Moçambicana de Gasoduto (CMG), along with integrated energy and chemical company Sasol, Rompco plays a strategic role in connecting Mozambique’s rich gasfields with South Africa’s energy market.
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