South Africa’s energy sector needs to broadly embrace a just energy transition to ensure it improves energy security and stability, as well as meets its obligations towards mitigating climate change, says nonprofit economic research institution Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies senior economist Gaylor Montmasson-Clair. He says a fair and equitable energy transition away from fossil fuels, and coal in particular, and towards renewable energy and other forms of less carbon intensive energy needs to embrace three key dynamics.
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Eskom’s recently tabled tariff restructure programme, which proposes changes such as charging consumers a fixed connection fee, may indeed improve the landscape for renewable energy in South Africa, says Energy Partners Intelligence business development head Tygue Theron.
He tells Engineering News that while there has been a fair amount of criticism levelled against the State-owned utility’s proposed plan, as well as recent developments that are expected to result in a 15.63% increase in tariffs from April 1, there is another way to look at the situation.
International rivers and river communities rights nongovernmental organisation International Rivers has called on South Africa to withdraw its agreement to offtake electricity from the Inga 3 hydropower project being built in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). South Africa continues to uphold its commitment to procure power from the delayed Inga 3 hydropower dam, but the power imported from Inga is expected to cost R175-million a year more than domestic power generation, the NGO avers.
South African adventurer and former naval officer Zirk Botha is days away from finishing his solo transatlantic ocean row, from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro, during which he will have covered 7 200 km, or 4 000 nautical miles. Botha left Cape Town on December 19, 2020, and is set to arrive in Rio de Janeiro on the weekend of February 28, 2021.
The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), in the Northern Cape, has added a new 53 kW solar installation to its grid-tied 40 kVA solar rooftop system. This follows after a system installed on the workshops of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) provided one year of operational data that convinced the SALT board that a similar-sized system would work on the SALT stores roof.
JSE-listed Sasol announced on Monday that it would pursue a 900 MW renewable-energy roll-out at its Secunda and Sasolburg complexes by 2030, raising its initial deployment target of 600 MW by 50%. President and CEO Fleetwood Grobler said that the upscaled plan would be pursued in partnership with others, including Air Liquide, which recently acquired Sasol’s 16 air separation units at Secunda for R8.5-billion.
Ocean energy professional network Ocean Energy Europe (OEE) has appointed risk and insurance consultancy Renewable Risk Advisers to carry out the design of a brand new European and European Union-funded insurance fund for the ocean energy sector as part of the OceanSET project. The project is expected to cut the costs of the first commercial projects and accelerate the roll-out of this new industry.
Energy storage coupled with renewable energy ensures less intermittent supply of power, thereby solving balancing and system reliability issues, the Africa Energy Indaba stated in a January press release.
As demand rises for more accessible renewable energy, the Africa Energy Indaba conference discussions are set to underscore various new avenues for innovative financing to steer Africa’s ever-changing energy landscape towards sustainability.
Africa’s oil and gas potential will grow significantly over the next two decades, driven by population growth, urbanisation and the emergence of a wealthier middle class in Africa, according to the Africa Energy Indaba, which will take place virtually from March 1 to 5.
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