The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) launched its Integrated Renewable Energy and Resource Efficiency Programme (iREREP) by opening its request for information (RFI) on September 20, saying its 30-year lead time is aligned with government’s National Infrastructure Plan 2050 and will be rolled across various DPWI-managed buildings up to 2050. The iREREP’s RFI is intended to test the market for additional ideas and information which comprehensively looks at ways to deliver mutual value through strong partnerships across government and the private sector, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille said.
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Cabinet has approved a revised – and more ambitious – Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) carbon mitigation target range for 2030 ahead of the upcoming COP26 gathering, which will take place in Glasgow, Scotland, in November. In a statement, Cabinet announced that South Africa had revised its 2030 climate change mitigation target range to 350 – 420 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt Co2-eq) for submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Cabinet has approved the setting up of the multi-purpose nuclear reactor project to replace the current SAFARI-1 nuclear research reactor, owned by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa). The research reactor, located at Pelindaba, west of Pretoria, is a leading global producer of medical radioisotopes used to treat cancer.
Talks about reducing the South African state power utility’s R402-billion debt to a manageable level are taking too long, its CEO Andre de Ruyter said. Eskom Holdings, which produces most of South Africa’s power, can’t meet its running and debt service costs and is dependent on government handouts to keep operating. It also needs to borrow more money to help it transition away from the polluting coal-fired plants used to produce the bulk of its electricity.
Integrated energy and chemicals company Sasol and the National Research Foundation (NRF) are requesting research proposals on science and engineering projects that can enable Sasol’s and South Africa’s energy transition, as well as the development of the country’s green economy.
Of interest to Sasol is research in hydrogen production, renewable energy, energy storage and carbon dioxide conversion to chemical and fuels – all key areas critical to enabling its environmental and business sustainability goals.
Embattled State-owned gas-to-liquids refiner PetroSA is considering plans to harness geothermal energy from its mature or depleted gas wells to produce electricity and delay decommissioning. Addressing a conference in Cape Town this week, Central Energy Fund (CEF) CEO Dr Ishmael Poolo reported that PetroSA, which is a CEF subsidiary, was facing a “decommissioning liability monster” and that various prospects were being considered to repurpose the ailing operation.
The South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) has been named as a respondent in an application filed by local renewable energy supplier Suntech Solar Power South Africa earlier this month. Suntech Solar has taken the decision to challenge the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme’s (RMIPPPP’s) decision-making process and the associated empirical data used that led to retrospective exemptions from designated local content (DLC) requirements.
African Development Bank (AfDB) managed fund, the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (Sefa), has approved a $1-million grant for the modernisation of Africa’s aging hydropower fleet. The grant will fund the mapping and evaluation of African hydropower facilities’ rehabilitation needs.
A new web-based platform, which will showcase green stimulus projects across Africa, has been officially launched. The portal, which can be found at http://agsp.nepad.org/, was unveiled this week by South Africa’s Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy in her capacity as outgoing president of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).
With South African retailers looking for ways of recovering from the latest lockdown, as well as the looting and vandalism, an opportunity to decrease costs on the system that comprises the bulk of their energy spend, which is refrigeration, has arisen. “All food retailers rely on refrigeration and are compelled to spend a lot of time, money and finite resources on managing these systems in-house. However, new, ground-breaking technology and the emergence of a pay-per-service model for clean cooling are changing the status quo,” says local refrigeration manufacturer EP Refrigeration business development head Dawie Kriel.
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