Harith General Partners, which funds infrastructure development across Africa, is pushing ahead with plans to build the first gas-fired power plants in South Africa’s industrial hub of Gauteng and is exploring options to source the fuel. The fund manager wants to build two gas-fired plants at the site of its coal-fired Kelvin Power Station, which lies east of Johannesburg close to the city’s main airport. The government’s energy blueprint, known as the Integrated Resource Plan, includes proposals to bring gas to the region from 2023 at the earliest, and that target isn’t ambitious enough, according to Sipho Makhubela, Harith’s chief executive officer.
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Special advisor to Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Zane Dangor stated on Thursday that vaccine nationalism is the opposite of the solidarity approach that was spoken of at the outset of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Dangor was addressing an online discussion on ‘Trade, Patent Law and Vaccine Procurement during the Covid-19 pandemic’ which focused on issues and lessons for the global south.
The organisers of the Invest Cape Town and the Business Hub GreenPitch Challenge 2021 have identified ten innovators and entrepreneurs with economically viable green economy innovation business ideas to pitch those ideas to a panel of expert judges at a virtual event on February 10. “The entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to interact with potential investors, business incubators, local government decision-makers and green economy experts. The judging panel is made up of local and international investment and innovation experts representing the City of Cape Town, Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism, the South African Renewable Energy Business Incubator, EdgeGrowth, PwC and the Solar Impulse Foundation,” says green economy solutions non-profit GreenCape.
Diversified miner Exxaro Resources will no longer invest in thermal coal assets, as this forms part of the company’s transition to becoming carbon neutral by 2050 in terms of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, CEO Mxolisi Mgojo said on February 2. Speaking during an environmental, social and governance- (ESG-) focused panel discussion on the first day of this year’s virtual Investing in African Mining Indaba event, Mgojo said the company would “continue in the coalfield” as long as it was viable, and for as long as power stations – like Medupi and Matimba – are in operation in line with existing supply contracts.
Business organisation Business Unity South Africa (Busa) applauds the statement made by Eskom CEO André de Ruyter during a webinar on February 2, in favour of lifting the licencing exemption threshold for electricity generation. “Busa Energy structures have considered the analysis conducted by Meridian Economics and the survey conducted by EE Business Intelligence. We support the findings that up to 5 000 MW potential of private distributed generation could be unlocked if the licencing exemption threshold is lifted to 50 MW. “In the current circumstances, this is material incremental capacity that could be sourced from the private sector,” says Busa VP Martin Kingston.
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says the State-owned utility is fully supportive of moves by large customers to develop embedded generation plants to power their operations, as well as growing calls to lift the licensing threshold from 1 MW to 50 MW so as to accelerate these investments. South Africa, he told participants in an ENSafrica webinar on Tuesday, faced an ongoing supply crunch that could not be closed by the procurement of 13 800 MW of new utility scale capacity alone, as catered for by the Ministerial determinations gazetted to unlock investments in line with the Integrated Resource Plan.
The Southern African Development Community’s (SADC’s) Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (Sacreee) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) to accelerate decentralised renewable energy deployment in Southern Africa.
The two organisations will also cooperate on policy development, capacity building programmes and regional events aimed at attracting investments to the region.
Market dynamics for embedded generation projects in South Africa have shifted materially over the past 12 months as an increasing number of mines and power-heavy industrial firms moved to install renewable-energy facilities at a time when government is also starting to resume utility scale procurement. In fact, Cresco executive director Robert Futter, who is advising several energy intensive firms on their power generation projects, reports that, as of the first quarter of 2021, there has been a decisive swing from a “buyer’s to a seller’s market”.
Environmental Affairs Minister Barbara Creec said she rejected pleas for leniency from senior executives at the country’s two biggest air polluters as she responded to a lawsuit that says her office has breached constitutional rights to clean air. In a 260-page answering affidavit to a lawsuit filed against her by environmental non profits she argued that while the country’s developmental needs must be balanced against environmental concerns, she had nevertheless acted to try and improve air quality.
Binational organisation the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) has reiterated and clarified its Covid-19-impacted stakeholder engagement process amid preparations to start building the multibillion-dollar 2 400 MW Batoka Gorge hydropower project on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The cross-border hydroelectric facility is expected to produce 10 215 GWh/y of electricity, which will be shared between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is envisioned that the project will be completed in 2026, after starting construction in mid-2022.
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