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Hydrogen implementation remains limited

Following global trends, discussions in South Africa on hydrogen, its production and use have gained momentum, although actual implementation remains limited, says power technology provider Cummins Africa and Middle East hydrogen and fuel cell business director Alan Zhao. Aligned with other countries, South Africa has been exploring hydrogen as a potential solution for power generation and mobility applications.
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Puma Energy acquires stake in MBHE

Global energy business Puma Energy has acquired a 49% stake in MBHE Group, a company that provides renewable energy solutions to customers across Southern Africa and owns its own high-quality renewable energy assets across the continent. The transaction aligns with Puma Energy’s purpose of energising communities and helping industrial and commercial customers prepare for the future of energy, and decarbonise their operations, with fully integrated renewable energy solutions.
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1 000 MW gas-to-power cap placed on Richards Bay for first gas procurement round

While ‘location agnostic’, South Africa’s inaugural 2 000 MW gas-to-power (GtP) procurement round is limiting the development of facilities in the City of uMhlathuze, where KwaZulu-Natal’s deep-water Port of Richards Bay has been earmarked as a future gas hub, to 1 000 MW – a threshold that will be breached only if the remaining allocation it not taken up elsewhere in the country. Besides this restriction, the first bid window (BW1) of the Gas Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (GIPPPPP) states that facilities can be located anywhere within the borders of South Africa and must be land based.
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Globeleq completes debt restructuring for Aries, Konkoonsies solar plants

Independent power company Globeleq has completed a $37-million senior debt restructuring of its 11 MW Aries and 11 MW Konkoonsies solar plants, in the Northern Cape. The debt restructuring was led by financial services firm Standard Bank.
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Work under way to identify next battery sites amid bidding at eight North West substations

Independent Power Producer Office head Bernard Magoro reports that work is under way to identify substation sites for the upcoming third Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (BESIPPPP) round while progressing with the second bid window (BW2) for 615 MW/2 460 MWh across eight substation sites. Speaking during a virtual bidders’ conference, Magoro acknowledged questions posed by several prospective bidders about the prospects of securing the necessary environmental authorisations in time for the sites selected for BW2, which were identified only on December 14 when the request for proposals (RFP) was published.
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Grid constraints cast shadow over South Africa’s seventh renewables bid window

South Africa’s grid constraints are continuing to cast a shadow over the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), the seventh bidding round for which was launched in December for 3 200 MW of onshore wind and 1 800 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) after months of delay. Independent Power Producer Office head Bernard Magoro told prospective REIPPPP Bid Window Seven (BW7) bidders during a virtual conference on January 17 that the delays were largely attributed to concerns over the availability of grid-connection capacity in the wind- and solar-rich Eastern, Western and Northern Cape provinces.
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Fast-growing ENGIE South Africa will consider grid investments under right conditions

Global independent power company ENGIE, which is prioritising the South African electricity market for significant organic and acquisitive growth, is also open to participating in grid investments should government move to open the market to private sector participation. ENGIE South Africa CEO Mohamed Hoosen tells Engineering News that the bigger group already has significant transmission grid assets globally and has also participated in build, own, operate and transfer projects.
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Busy week for DMRE as it hosts IPP bidders conferences and IRP workshop

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) and the Independent Power Producer Office (IPPO) have a busy week ahead, with three virtual bidders conferences to be hosted over Wednesday and Thursday, and with the department also schedule to host a public workshop on the draft 2023 edition of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP 2023). The bidders conferences follow the release, on December 14, of three new requests for proposals (RFPs) for the public procurement of 7 615 MW of new generation capacity from wind, solar photovoltaic (PV), gas to power and battery energy storage technologies.
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City of Cape Town issues 500 MW independent power tender

The City of Cape Town has issued the latest in a series of power-related tenders aimed at mitigating the impact of loadshedding and diversifying its energy supply from Eskom. The city says this is in line with its programme of adding independent power to its grid.
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Proposed new IRP met with some skepticism

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the background to the publication for public comment of the latest Integrated Resource Plan (IRP); the main changes in the IRP 2023, compared with the IRP 2019; the initial reaction to the new IRP; and the public commentary process.
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