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Passage of NHI Bill would spell disaster for the health sector – BLSA

Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso has warned of the deteriorating health sector without the prospect of recovery, owing in large part to the passage last week of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into law, barring the assent of President Cyril Ramaphosa.  In her weekly newsletter published on December 11, Mavuso called this development a “shocking negative” for the health sector and noted its potentially dire consequences for the South African economy. 
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Koeberg Unit 2 to return in Sept, heightening risk of both units being out simultaneously

Eskom generation head Bheki Nxumalo has indicated that an extended outage at Koeberg Unit 2, which begins on December 11, is currently expected to continue until September 2024, increasing the prospect of both Koeberg units being out of service simultaneously from late July next year. Nxumalo provided an update on the outage schedule during a briefing on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan, at which it was confirmed that Unit 1 had been ramped up to 924 MW by December 10.
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IRP update approved by Cabinet includes new coal decommissioning schedule

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa reports that Cabinet has approved the release of an updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for public comment and also confirms that the document contains a revised decommissioning schedule for Eskom’s aged coal power stations when compared with the prevailing IRP2019 edition. The IRP update was approved during a special Cabinet meeting last week, held after the executive was unable to finalise several matters on November 29, the date that was meant to serve as its final meeting of 2023.
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Eskom’s new CEO confirmed

Daniel Leseja Marokane has been appointed as chief executive officer of Eskom. On Friday afternoon, Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan said Marokane would join Eskom no later than 31 March 2024.
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Second iteration of just transition project framework completed

Nonprofit economic research institution Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) has developed the second iteration of its framework to identify and measure just transition projects in South Africa, and will publish it in March. The first iteration of the framework was used to test theoretical assumptions about just transition projects against projects on the ground. It used an open call and an invitation to 70 companies known to be active in the space to gather data on projects, with the respondents drawn from a broad cross section of industries.
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South Africa set to pick Dan Marokane as new Eskom CEO

Dan Marokane is expected to be appointed as the new CEO of South Africa’s state power utility Eskom Holdings after an almost year-long search for a candidate, according to people familiar with the decision. The company’s failure to boost generation from its old and poorly maintained power plants has led to nationwide electricity outages — implemented to prevent a total collapse of the grid. The worsening situation has weighed on a process to fill the top job at Eskom, which has had 14 leaders since 2007.
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Concerns linger over Koeberg’s life extension

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the outlook for the Koeberg life-extension operation following significant delays and rising safety concerns.
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Electricity reform bears fruit with 1 185 generators now registered with Nersa

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) reports that it registered a further 98 generation facilities – with a combined capacity of 908 MW and an investment value of R17.3-billion – during the second quarter of its 2023/24 financial year. These registrations, which took place from July to September, raise to 1 185 the total number of generation facilities registered since 2018.
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Sibanye-Stillwater accelerates decarbonisation with two further renewables projects

The financial close and start of construction of two additional renewable energy projects for Sibanye-Stillwater’s South Africa operations has been announced. The first project, the Witberg wind energy project, located near Matjiesfontein in the Western Cape province with a contracted capacity of 103 MW, will generate renewable energy and supply the South Africa operations via a wheeling agreement with South Africa’s State-owned power utility enterprise Eskom.
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Two more solar projects from delayed BW5 set to begin construction in early 2024

Two 75-MW apiece solar photovoltaic (PV) projects bid under the much-delayed Bid Window Five (BW5) of South Africa’s public renewables procurement programme have officially advanced to commercial close and will enter construction in early 2024. The projects are Grootspruit, in the Free State, and Graspan, in the Northern Cape, and will be built and operated by ENGIE in partnership with Pele Green Energy.
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