Co-locating wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) facilities at a single grid connection point could help maximise the use of South Africa’s existing, albeit constrained, transmission network capacity and would improve supply consistency, Enertrag South Africa project development head Mercia Grimbeek argues. Grimbeek notes that, while solar and wind power plants can be built in the fraction of the time needed to build other thermal power solutions, more connecting points on the grid are required to alleviate pressure, especially in the Northern, Eastern and Western Cape provinces.
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The National Treasury is embarking on provincial roadshows to communicate the 14 conditions under which the debt owed to Eskom by municipalities can be written off over the coming three years. As of March 31, Eskom was owed a whopping R57-billion by municipalities and the municipal debt issue has continued to worsen despite several previous attempts to address the problem.
Stage 6 loadshedding will be implemented from 16:00 on Tuesday until 05:00 on Thursday, Eskom said in a statement. After that, stages will vary between 4 and 6 until late on Friday.
Dual-listed natural gas and helium producer Renergen, through its subsidiary Tetra4, has signed agreements with transport company Timelink to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) and displace a significant portion of diesel in Timelink’s line-haul fleet. Timelink will also convert its fleet to operate on diesel dual fuel (DDF) technology.
South Africa’s environment ministry dismissed a complaint by a nonprofit against Karpowership’s plan to moor a ship-mounted power plant off the nation’s west coast, a rare win for the Turkish company. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, in a letter to The Green Connection dated April 26, rejected the nonprofit’s allegations that Karpowership’s consultants misrepresented small-scale fishers. The department will go ahead and review the company’s proposal to set up a 320 MW plant in Saldanha port, according to the letter provided by the consultants.
Dealing with loadshedding is not about “mobilising votes”, according to Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe. The minister was answering questions from members of Parliament’s National Council of Provinces on Tuesday. Democratic Alliance MP Mlindi Nhanha had asked about the progress made on government’s Energy Action Plan. South Africa has only had two days this year without loadshedding, while up to 29 days of Stage 6 have been implemented thus far.
A Microgrid Centre of Excellence (CoE) has been launched at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in partnership with Power Africa, a US government-led initiative coordinated by the United States Agency for International Development. The centre will support local utilities with microgrid implementation projects as an alternative way of achieving universal access to electricity.
Construction contractor Concor is working on a project to build a 5.74 MW solar photovoltaic power plant in the Eastgate shopping centre’s upper parking area, adding to the centre’s existing 1 MW solar plant. This project aligns with JSE-listed real estate investment trust Liberty 2 Degrees’ execution of its 2030 net-zero targets, which includes reducing energy reliance on the grid, and a focus on creating good and smart spaces.
Wind projects with a combined capacity of 984 MW have been registered with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa), a development that the South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) sees as representing a shift from the single buyer model that has hitherto underpinned renewables investment to a more open arrangement. The change, SAWEA says, has been brought about by the removal of the licensing requirement for private generation plants that are proceeding on the basis of bilateral power purchase agreements with private off-takers.
Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Blade Nzimande has highlighted the country’s determination to develop a hydrogen economy, for a low carbon-emissions future. He did so at the recent meeting of the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE) steering committee, in Pretoria. The IPHE is an intergovernmental organisation with 22 members, which share information to encourage research and development into hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, and their actual deployment, around the world. South Africa currently chairs the steering committee.
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