Johannesburg, billed as Africa’s richest city because of its concentration of businesses and millionaires, needs R221-billion to catch up on maintenance and overdue upgrades across its collapsing road, power and water networks. The city council discussed the shortfall late last month and detailed it in documents seen by Bloomberg. It comes at a time when regular power outages — the result of distribution-network breakdowns — hit large swathes of Johannesburg. Officials leave potholes unattended for months and parts of the city had no water for as long as 11 days in March.
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The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has expressed concern about the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) decision to reject Eskom’s application to reserve grid capacity for the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
While the association acknowledges that there are regulatory complexities involved with preserving grid capacity for these projects, there are also implications of Nersa’s decision for the wind energy sector and the broader renewable energy landscape in South Africa.
Power and energy expert Vally Padayachee has emphasised the untapped potential and critical importance of optimising the country’s grid system, especially now as it transforms into a high-value smart grid that incorporates smart technologies and serves as a “backup” for renewable-energy power. Padayachee, a former senior executive at City Power, in Johannesburg, and a former executive manager at Eskom, highlights, in an opinion article sent to Engineering News, the need for critical thinking, strategic investment, modernisation and a shift in thinking to address the challenges facing the South African energy landscape.
The Johannesburg City Council this week approved the turnaround strategies for City Power Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water, as it aims to bolster essential municipal services across the city. The strategies will now be submitted to the National Treasury in compliance with regulatory requirements.
National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) interim CEO Segomoco Scheppers has confirmed that the newly operationalised entity is making an allowable revenue application to the regulator that is distinct from that of Eskom as it seeks to secure the finances it requires for its operations and to implement its ambitious roll-out of new grid infrastructure. Speaking at an event co-hosted by the Powerline and Substation Association and the South African independent Power Producer Association, Scheppers argued that the newly separated entity had to be placed on a sound financial footing by securing the revenue required to run, maintain and expand the network.
An estimated 3.3-million new, direct jobs could be created across 12 green subsectors in Africa by 2030, a report published by staffing specialist company Shortlist and development agency FSD Africa, with analysis from consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has found. The ‘Forecasting Green Jobs in Africa’ report shows that the majority of these new jobs will be created in the renewable-energy sector, particularly in the solar industry.
South Africa still has a stockpile of highly enriched uranium, Netwerk24 reported, citing Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe. The nation declared its holdings of the nuclear material, which can be used to build weapons, to the International Atomic Energy Agency as part of a comprehensive precautionary agreement, the website reported, citing Mantashe. The level of enrichment of the uranium was classified information, it said.
The JSE has imposed a public censure and a fine of R3-million on State-owned utility Eskom over its failure to comply timeously with stipulations of the debt listings requirements (DLRs). Eskom is listed on the JSE as an issuer of debt securities and, therefore, has a continuing obligation to comply with the JSE DLRs.
Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA), which has been bemoaning weak domestic demand conditions for several years, reports that it is witnessing signs of “green shoots” in manufacturing and has also expressed cautious optimism over a potential for a recovery in energy-, construction- and automotive-related demand. While reporting a 2% fall in volumes to 1.2-million tons in the first half of the year, as well as a material 10% slump in production to 1.2-million tons, largely owing to blast-furnace chilled hearth conditions at Vanderbijlpark in April and May, CEO Kobus Verster pointed to improving demand dynamics.
South Africa’s decaying water, electricity and logistics infrastructure presents a R100-billion a year repair and refurbishment investment opportunity that could provide much-needed stimulus for the declining manufacturing sector, Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa COO Tafadzwa Chibanguza has said. “Infrastructure spend in terms of the big capital projects is important for long-term industrialisation. [However], there’s also an important discussion that needs to be had at an intermediate level. You can actually run a massive scale industrialisation project just by repairing and rebuilding the current infrastructure.
INDUSTRY NEWS
- Eskom forecasting full-year profit of R10bn, as it digests Nersa decisionJanuary 31, 2025 - 5:05 pm
- Eskom falls painfully short of going 365 days loadshedding-freeJanuary 31, 2025 - 5:05 pm
- African Dawn Investments forms partnership to roll out EV chargers, BESSs across South AfricaJanuary 31, 2025 - 5:05 pm
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