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Difficulties heightened during pandemic, company forges ahead

South Africa’s subdued economic growth has been well recorded – even prior to the pandemic, says industrial equipment supplier Verder Pumps South Africa MD Darryl Macdougall.
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Global renewables group expanding into South Africa

International renewable energy development company GreenYellow is expanding its presence into South Africa, and provides not only proven renewable energy systems, but also technical advice and financing to catalyse the adoption of these energy sources by commercial and industrial companies, says GreenYellow South Africa sales director Michael Ilias. The company has signed an energy efficiency contract for 5 stores for a large retailer, and is working on a solar power purchase agreement multibuilding rollout for another large retailer.
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R1bn Richards Bay mounded LPG storage facility commissioned

The R1-billion mounded liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage facility, in Richards Bay, owned by South African independent bulk liquid and gas storage operator Bidvest Tank Terminals and independent LPG specialist and traders Petredec, has been commissioned. The 22 600 t storage facility is the region’s largest pressurised LPG import terminal, guaranteeing year-round availability of LPG to South Africa and neighbouring countries. 
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Technical panel being assembled to support delivery of 62 infrastructure projects

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille reported on Thursday that nearly 1 200 applications were received from professionals willing to serve on the Technical Advisory Panel for South Africa’s Infrastructure Investment Plan. Applications for the panel were advertised in August and the Minister said final appointments would be made this week.
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Kusile Unit 2 reaches full commercial operational status

State-owned power utility Eskom reports that, on October 2, Unit 2 of its six-unit Kusile coal-fired power station in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga ,achieved full commercial operation status.

This means the unit has progressed from its 16-month project testing phase, to officially becoming a part of Eskom’s generation fleet, contributing its nameplate capacity of up to 800 MW to the South African power grid.

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Royal Bafokeng puts muscle behind Distributed Power Africa’s energy agenda

Renewable energy company Distributed Power Africa (DPA) has announced that Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH) will invest $20-million in a newly formed asset company to expand on DPA’s solar energy portfolio in four key markets.

RBH is a long-term African community investment holding company with a legacy of partnering with leading organisations to achieve real broad-based transformation.

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Boland Cellar commissions 473 kW crowdfunded solar installation

Paarl-based wine cellars Boland Cellar and peer-to-peer solar leasing platform Sun Exchange received crowd funding from 1 204 individuals from 85 countries to finance a 473 kW solar project to provide clean electricity for the wine cellar, while also reducing its electricity costs and emissions. The crowdsourced and global approach to solar finance was enabled through Sun Exchange’s innovative online platform.
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Vivo Energy, Robex to set up a solar plant at Mali mine

Canadian mining company Robex Resources and Vivo Energy, which sells and distributes Shell- and Engen-branded fuels and lubricants in Africa, have reached an agreement for Vivo Energy to supply solar energy to the Nampala gold mine, in Mali, for a period of five to fifteen years. The project will result in the construction of a 3.9 MW solar photovoltaic power plant, with a battery storage capacity of 2.6 MWh which, owing to the energy management system, will be fully integrated into the mine’s existing thermal power plant.
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Municipal power procurement trickier than just getting the go-ahead from Minister

Although national government has opened the door for municipalities to procure electricity from independent power producers (IPPs), a lot of “regulatory ironing out” still needs to happen before power purchase agreements (PPAs) can be signed.

In May last year, the Energy Minister gave permission for the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to licence 500 MW of small-scale embedded generation (SSEG) projects, sized between 1 MW and 10 MW, without the need for the Minister to sign it off.

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Industrial investment will flow if South Africa ‘consistently’ builds 1.6 GW of wind yearly

Leading wind-energy project developers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are convinced that South Africa’s plan to install 1.6 GW of new wind capacity yearly until 2030 is more than sufficient to attract large-scale industrial investment. These captains of industry warn, however, that the country will need to back-up the policy certainty currently being provided by the Integrated Resource Plan 2019 (IRP2019) with consistent implementation.
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