An energy transition aligned with a 1.5°C-compatible climate pathway has net positive effects on job creation, a new report published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) states. The full ‘World Energy Transitions Outlook’ document shows that under a scenario that limits the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels by the end of the century, jobs will exceed those created under a planned energy scenario, or PES, which reflects the current energy plans of governments.
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The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has welcomed the Gauteng High Court’s ruling to set aside the R8-billion tender between power utility Eskom and oil blender Econ Oil after the matter was heard on June 9.
The court on June 29 found that the contract was unlawful.
South African power utility Eskom Holdings has reduced its debt to less than R400-billion as discussions ensue to secure funding for a transition to renewable energy, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. The state-owned company announced in May it had reduced debt by a fifth to about R401-billion.
Ethekwini, the South African municipality that includes the port city of Durban, plans to seek initial proposals for the construction of 400 MW of power generation. The so-called request for information will be the first by a South African municipal area since the government said last year that cities could buy electricity from providers other than Eskom Holdings, the State utility that’s subjected the country to intermittent outages for over a decade.
South African State power utility Eskom, Africa’s biggest greenhouse-gas emitter, is pitching a $10-billion plan to global lenders that would see it shut the vast majority of its coal-fired plants by 2050 and embrace renewable energy. Discussions have already started with development finance institutions like the World Bank and the African Development Bank, a senior Eskom official told Reuters.
The UK government announced on Wednesday that the phasing out of the use of coal to generate electricity in Great Britain will be brought forward by a full year, to October 2024. (The only coal-fired power plant in Northern Ireland was already scheduled to close by 2024.) This is part of the British government’s programme to decarbonise the country’s electricity supply. To this end, it will introduce new legislation in Parliament as soon as practical. London is also urging all other countries to accelerate their phasing out of the use of coal for electricity generation.
A new learning and innovation hub to develop the skills and knowledge of social-performance practitioners in South Africa’s renewable-energy sector has been officially launched. Known as the Initiative for Social Performance in Renewable Energy, or INSPIRE, the venture aims to improving the effectiveness and sustainability of the enterprise and socioeconomic development initiatives undertaken by independent power producers (IPPs).
Hydropower’s role in achieving a clean energy transition and in supporting the faster expansion of solar and wind generation capacity, is undervalued, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) inaugural ‘Hydropower Special Market’ report states. Hydropower has a key role in the transition to clean energy not only through the massive quantities of low-carbon electricity it produces, but also because of its unmatched capabilities for providing flexibility and storage. Many hydropower plants can ramp their electricity generation up and down very rapidly compared with other power plants such as nuclear, coal and natural gas, the IEA says.
China’s biggest bank has dumped plans to fund a $3-billion coal-fired power plant in Zimbabwe, in a blow to a two-decade effort to develop the project, according to a coalition of 32 environmental groups. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China told Go Clean ICBC, which includes environmental activist group 350.org, that it wouldn’t fund the 2 800 MW Sengwa coal project that RioEnergy, a unit of RioZim, is seeking to develop in Northern Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe faces prolonged power outages after a surge in electricity imports from neighboring South Africa overloaded its network and caused generating plants to fail, Energy Minister Soda Zhemu said. The surge caused a nationwide blackout in the early hours of Monday, as it affected output at the Kariba hydropower plant and the coal-fired Hwange facility, Zhemu said by phone from the capital, Harare.
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