While Africa is part of the global transition to low carbon energy, the consumption of oil and gas on the continent will increase, at least in the short term. So observed Standard Bank executive energy & infrastructure coverage: East Africa Maina Kigundu at the African Refiners and Distributors Association conference, at the Century City Convention Centre in Cape Town, on Tuesday. The decarbonization plans of international corporations were affecting investment in Africa. There was decreasing investment in the oil sector, but increasing investment was likely in the liquified natural gas (LNG) sector, he reported.
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Due to some recovery in generation capacity over the past 48 hours, loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 3 from 05:00 on Wednesday until 16:00. Thereafter, Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented until 05:00 on Thursday. This pattern will continue, until further notice. Over the past 48 hours, the repairs to the damaged towers from Cahora Bassa in Mozambique were completed and restored to full capacity, Eskom said in a statement. A generating unit each at Arnot, Grootvlei, Kriel, and Tutuka power stations has been returned to service. During the same period a generating unit each at Lethabo, and two units at Kriel power stations were taken offline for repairs. The return to service of a generating unit each at Hendrina and Medupi power stations is delayed. Breakdowns currently total 13 949MW of generating capacity while 4 322MW of generating capacity is out of service for planned maintenance.
Wind turbine manufacturer and supplier Vestas has secured a contract for the supply and installation of wind turbines for independent power producer Red Rocket’s Brandvalley, Rietkloof and Wolf wind parks, to be built in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces. The three wind farms will have a combined capacity of 373 MW and the contract will entail the supply and installation of 64 V150-4.5 MW wind turbines, 12 V163-4.5 MW wind turbines and five V162-6.2 MW Enventus wind turbines.
Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel reports that that energy one-stop-shop to speed up the regulatory processes required for private investment in electricity generation has been established and is being managed by InvestSA. In a presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, Patel reported that the one-stop shop had been established in line with the Energy Action Plan (EAP) to tackle loadshedding, which has since been declared a state of disaster.
After receiving a R9-million boost to tackle cable theft, City Power will embark on a project that’s aimed at replacing underground cables with overhead lines. City of Johannesburg mayoral committee member for environment and infrastructure services, Jack Sekwaila, who secured the funding, said the project formed part of “new and improved security measures” to make cable theft more difficult.
There were two main challenges South Africa faced, in addressing its inadequate electricity generation capacity, Independent Power Producers (IPP) Office Head Bernard Magoro highlighted at the RES4Africa conference in Cape Town, on Monday. They were the fast-tracking of approvals by government, and capacity constraints in the country’s national grid. The IPP Office is an agency of the national government, established to procure mainly electricity generation capacity from independent power producers, as well as provide advisory services.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the City of Cape Town is on track with plans to protect residents from the first four stages of loadshedding implemented by State-owned utility Eskom within three years. The three-phase procurement plan for loadshedding protection has reached several milestones this month. The largest procurement – a 500 MW tender to buy power on the open market – is on track to open on March 29.
The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has launched a campaign to highlight the role that the wind energy industry plays as an employer as South Africa’s Energy Action Plan gains momentum to deliver new power generation and steer the country’s accelerated energy transition.
“We are launching the campaign ‘I Work In Wind’ to showcase people across this industry who are already employed to tell their personal stories, really inspiring the next generation of wind energy professionals and encouraging more participation in the sector,” explains SAWEA CEO Niveshen Govender.
Energy sector solutions provider Wärtsilä reports that a 130 MW power plant it built in Malicounda, in western Senegal, is now fully operational and officially inaugurated by Senegal President Macky Sall.
The Flexicycle power plant is operated by energy company Matelec, which also undertook the engineering, procurement and construction of the plant; which will be maintained by Wärtsilä under a ten-year maintenance agreement.
Major changes were indeed under way in the country’s electricity sector, South African Presidency project management head Rudi Dicks assured the RES4Africa Energy Security Conference in Cape Town, on Monday. “There is a risk that we miss the [reform] wood for the [crisis] trees,” he said. South Africa has suffered for years from scheduled power cuts, called loadshedding, imposed by the State-owned national electricity utility Eskom, because of its lack of generating capacity. “Loadshedding is the result of poor policy decisions or actions not taken,” he explained.
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