Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has shut down the possibly of declaring a state of disaster for Eskom as the utility habitually battles unit failures at its power stations, with this recent bout leading to a week-long stretch of State 2 load-shedding. “There should… be a distinction made between a state of disaster just for dramatic effect as compared to a power system emergency – which falls within the purview of the systems operator,” Gordhan told a National Assembly plenary session on Wednesday.
Posts
The Kangnas Wind Farm, in the Northern Cape, has signed an ecological agreement with the Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform, to compensate for any biodiversity impact from the project. The long-term agreement improves the viability of biodiversity and its associated habitats by creating an expansive protected area, which far exceeds the wind farm’s footprint, and delivers a range of benefits.
The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has started with the construction of a temporary detour route near the N2 in uMkhomazi and Umgababa in the north of Durban. This will allow flow of traffic from the south to the north of Durban, which has been blocked since the floods in April.
Eskom insists that it is processing budget quotes for independent power producers (IPPs) seeking to connect to the national grid, in line with agreed timelines, and that it is making every effort to debottleneck the process so that much-needed new generation capacity can be introduced speedily. COO Jan Oberholzer indicated during a load-shedding briefing that the utility was seeking clarity from both the IPP Office and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy regarding recent statements indicating that financial close on 25 wind and solar projects had been delayed from the end of April to accommodate the issuing of budget quotations by Eskom.
South Africa’s planned $8.5-billion climate finance deal with some of the world’s richest nations could serve as a blueprint for other coal-dependent countries, the head of its negotiating team said. The potential funding, which will be made available over three to five years, was announced at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow in November. Under the arrangement, the US, UK, Germany, France and European Union plan to provide finance to help the country cut its use of coal, which is used to generate more than 80% of its electricity.
The financially-strapped Emfuleni municipality started a revenue collection drive by cutting defaulters’ electricity in a bid to get them to pay up if they want to be reconnected. Since the campaign was launched on Monday, several government departments – such as the Labour Department and a SAPS training centre – were plunged into darkness.
Chemicals and energy multinational Sasol says it has completed the divestment of its shareholding in the 175 MW gas-to-power plant Central Térmica de Ressano Garcia (CTRG), in Ressano Garcia, Mozambique, effective April 29. In December 2020, Sasol announced that a sale securities purchase agreement had been signed with Azura Power for the divestment of Sasol’s equity interest in CTRG.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) told lawmakers on Tuesday that the postponement of financial close on 25 wind and solar projects selected as preferred bids in October was the result of delays in the issuance of budget quotations from Eskom for connection to the grid. Bid window five (BW5) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) was scheduled to close at the end of April, but the decision to delay the signing of power purchase and implementation agreements was confirmed by the IPP Office on April 28.
Power utility Eskom has announced that it will implement Stage 2 load-shedding from 17:00 on May 3 to 05:00 on Monday, May 9. The utility attributed the load-shedding to a shortage of generation capacity owing to delays in returning generators to service, as well as breakdowns of nine generators.
JSE-listed Renergen reported on May 3 that it was making “strong” progress in terms of the commissioning of Phase 1 of the Virginia gas project, which comprises exploration and production rights of 187 000 ha of gas fields across Welkom, Virginia and Theunissen, in the Free State. Cold boxes – which are self-supporting structures that protect cryogenic equipment such as heat exchangers, core-in-drums, distillation columns, piping, valves and instrumentation – are currently being purged and pre-cooled using liquid nitrogen, which is an important process in preparing the units for acceptance of gas from
INDUSTRY NEWS
WHERE TO FIND US
Address
9 Yellow Street
Botshabelo Industrial Area
Botshabelo, Free State
Call / Email Us
Tel: +27 (0) 51 534 1651
Email: info@transfix.co.za
