Energy technology provider Midea Energy Solutions, a product division of global appliance and air conditioning manufacturer Midea, has partnered with local distributors Livance Distributors and Fourways Group to launch the Midea Energy Solutions range of inverter and energy storage products. The Midea brand has been in South Africa since 2013, and has now undertaken to extend its product offerings to include Midea Energy Solutions’ products through its networks in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
Solar, wind and battery storage are essential to the low-carbon energy transition and there is likely to be greater demand for input materials used in these sectors in the years ahead. This was noted by Fitch Solutions business unit BMI Research’s Group Power and Low Carbon Energy analyst David Thoo, speaking during the company’s ‘Global Renewables Capex Trends: Effects on Solar, Wind and Battery Storage’ webinar, on September 7.
The global head of renewable-energy group Scatec is “extremely enthusiastic” about the market opportunities in South Africa, where he says variable wind and solar generation offer the cheapest and quickest route to injecting electricity into the loadshedding-prone grid. It is also where the company is building an enormous hybrid project that is poised to demonstrate the competitiveness of solar and batteries relative to conventional dispatchable technologies that take far longer to deploy.
G7 Renewable Energies has withdrawn its High Court review against Eskom’s Interim Grid Capacity Allocation Rules (IGCAR), following what it describes as “meaningful industry engagements” that have resulted in an “amicable resolution”. On June 17 Eskom unveiled the interim rules, which sought to address the prevailing scarcity of grid connections by shifting the allocation methodology from the ‘first come, first served’ approached that had applied previously to a ‘first ready, first served’ arrangement.
The newly launched Discovery Green platform will link renewable energy production with business demands with the aim to create an aggregated, diversified and reliable energy marketplace. It will provide enrolled businesses with renewable energy by 2026, enabling them to significantly reduce their emissions and helping to address the national shortfall in electricity.
South African independent power producer Mulilo Energy has appointed former Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer as its new non-executive chairperson as it gears up to grow its renewables and battery storage portfolio by about 5 GW over the coming five years. The appointment became effective from September 1.
Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has attributed the “unwelcome” resumption of Stage 6 loadshedding, during which business and residential areas experience rotational cuts for as much as half of the hours in the day, to a combination of higher planned maintenance and a spike in unplanned breakdowns. During a virtual briefing convened after Eskom reported that it would implement Stage 6 until further notice, Ramokgopa reported that Eskom had started ramping up planned maintenance as it exited the high-demand winter period, during which such outages had been capped at 2 500 MW.
The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) highlighted on Tuesday that its current debt, which is sitting at close to R48-billion, is unsustainable. The municipality explained that a lot of the debt owed included money for rates, taxes, sewer, electricity and water, owing to illegal connection of services by businesses, residents and big organisations.
US-based rural Africa and Asia-focused net-zero energy company Husk Power Systems (Husk) announced on Tuesday the launch of its “Africa Sunshot” solar minigrid roll-out initiative. The initiative was launched at the Africa Climate Summit, currently under way in Nairobi, Kenya. Africa Sunshot is intended to achieve the creation of 2 500 net-zero solar energy minigrids to generate electricity for African communities with no, or only weak, connections with power transmission grids, within five years. The initiative will be funded by $500-million in equity and debt that Husk expects to mobilise.
Although persisting with his position that he has the powers to determine the sources of new generation, Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says because the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) updating process is well advanced, he is supporting the department in preparing to release the new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for public consultation soon. Responding to questions on the IRP during his weekly briefing on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan, Ramokgopa said he would be part of the “Ministerial team” that is currently finalising the document ahead of its approval for release.
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