South Africa’s just energy transition (JET) to a low-carbon economy will not transpire overnight and will remain a challenge throughout the 2023 financial year, professional services firm EY strategy consulting arm EY-Parthenon Africa leader Paul O’Flaherty tells Engineering News. “As with many parts of the globe, South Africa is living in the context of a trilemma. We need to balance money (availability of funding, high interest rates and inflation), energy (availability, affordability and achieving net zero) and supply (cost, sustainability and resilience).”
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Lessons from South Africa’s extensive experience in the automotive industry need to be applied as the country focuses on building a green hydrogen sector, which could potentially produce six-million to 13-million tons of green hydrogen and derivatives a year by 2050. “South Africa has some natural advantages – land, wind, solar energy, oceans and endowment of critical minerals needed for green industrialisation value chains.
The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) expects private-sector projects exceeding the 100 MW threshold to be reflected on the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) database from the second or third quarters of this year to further increase new generation capacity, says SAPVIA CEO Dr Rethabile Melamu. An estimated 4.3 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity was installed as of 2021 across various market segments, with the total capacity of non-Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) solar PV initiatives registered with Nersa increasing by 1.2 GW since the last quarter of 2021 over the past year.
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe is adamant that he is not to blame for continued loadshedding – even though his department oversees the procurement of generation capacity and not a single megawatt has been connected to the grid during his tenure. In a wide-ranging interview with News24 on Tuesday, Mantashe, who is also African National Congress (ANC) chairperson, not only continued to distance himself and his department from the crisis but doubled down on his comments that effectively accused outgoing Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter and staff at the power utility of treason.
EDF Renewables in South Africa reports that construction of its third wind project selected during the much-delayed fifth bid window (BW5) of government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) is under way after the 140 MW Coleskop project reached financial and commercial close on January 18. The project forms part of the 420 MW Koruson 1 portfolio that also includes the Phezukomoya and San Kraal wind projects, which achieved financial close on November 10.
The African Solar Industry Association (Afsia) has highlighted some of Africa’s dormant, “but brimming with potential”, sectors that can realise new sources of revenue and universal access to clean energy.
In its 2023 yearly ‘Solar Outlook’ report, which was released on January 18 during the World Future Energy Summit, in Abu Dhabi, Afsia outlines the main segments with major opportunities in Africa as being commercial and industrial (C&I), green hydrogen, solar-powered mobility and the productive use of energy (PUE).
Trade union Solidarity has served legal papers on the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to remove all bottlenecks standing in the way of private energy suppliers. Solidarity stresses that the future of energy in South Africa lies in less State and more private service delivery.
The most severe power cuts ever experienced in South Africa are threatening food and water supplies and disrupting the lives of millions of people, including chicken farmers. In the poultry industry, electricity outages have forced factories to pause round-the-clock operations for as long as half a day at a time. As a result, over ten-million birds designated for slaughter are still alive and consuming feed, creating a backlog that companies fear they won’t be able to fix.
Multistakeholder organisation the Global Battery Alliance (GBA) launched a proof-of-concept for its Battery Passport at the World Economic Forum’s yearly meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 18.
With the aim of establishing a sustainable battery value chain by 2030, the GBA’s Battery Passport is proposed as a key to facilitating the rapid scaling of sustainable, circular and responsible battery value chains to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement through electrification of the transport and power sectors.
The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) is hoping to convince Eskom to conduct an independent technoeconomic assessment of whether there is potential to extract more capacity from the constrained grid in the Cape provinces after none of the 23 wind projects that participated in the most recent public procurement round were appointed as a preferred bidder. In December, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe announced the appointment of only six utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, with a combined capacity of just 860 MW, as preferred bidders, following Bid Window Six (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
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