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Coal & Diesel News

Software upgrade for Sky Eye Elios drones in the pipeline

By: Mamaili Mamaila 19th April 2019 Rope-access company Skyriders Access Specialists will partner with a local software company to advance the current software on its Sky Eye Elios drones, as it continues to refine the technology in line with its ongoing inspection and maintenance work at various industrial plants this year. →

Access to finance hampers power sector progress

By: Mamaili Mamaila 19th April 2019 Among the challenges facing the power generation sector is access to finance to upgrade and maintain power infrastructure to extend the life of existing assets in a sustainable way, especially when it comes to new digital technologies, says international power generation company General Electric... →

Standard Bank shareholders to vote on climate-risk exposure reporting resolution

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 18th April 2019 Shareholders of financial services provider Standard Bank will, at the bank's next annual general meeting, vote on a resolution tabled by two shareholders to require the bank to report on its exposure to climate risk in its lending, financing and investment activities. "This is the first time... →

Load-shedding may cut growth close to zero, SARB says

By: Bloomberg 18th April 2019 South Africa’s power cuts could bring economic growth for the year close to zero if they continue at the same severity seen in March, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said. The wave of rolling blackouts that started in November and are among the worst the country has yet experienced could... →

SARB deputy governor Kuben Naidoo

Eskom CEO says 'days of surprises' over as problems exposed

By: Bloomberg 17th April 2019 Almost 15 months into the job, and the boss of South Africa’s state-owned electricity company is getting to grips with issues spanning corruption to defective power plants that threatened to collapse the grid. “The days of surprises are over,” Eskom Holdings CEO Phakamani Hadebe said in an... →

Activists push South African pension funds to tally climate costs

By: Bloomberg 15th April 2019 Pension funds in South Africa have a legal obligation to account for the financial effects of climate change on their investments, according to two groups lobbying money managers to pay closer attention to the issue. Shareholder activists Just Share and environmental law organisation ClientEarth... →

Lemur invites EPCTC contractors to tender for Imaloto project

By: Marleny Arnoldi 12th April 2019 Aim-listed Bushveld Minerals’ subsidiary Lemur Holdings has put out an invitation for expressions of interest for the engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning (EPCTC) of some parts of the company’s Imaloto power project, in Madagascar. The company urged interested... →

High risk of load-shedding for Thursday evening

By: News24Wire 11th April 2019 For the first time in almost three weeks South Africans may be faced with rotational power outages on Thursday evening, as Eskom again battles a shortage of capacity. The power utility announced on Thursday afternoon that there is a high risk of Stage 1 load-shedding for Thursday evening between... →

Goldman says Eskom's crisis leaves no time for unbundling plan

By: Bloomberg 11th April 2019 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plan to split the State-owned power utility into generation, distribution and transmission divisions will take longer than the government has to revive the business, according to Goldman Sachs Group. Eskom Holdings is focusing on trying to avoid... →

Manufacturing Indaba to focus on negative effects of power outages

By: African News Agency 11th April 2019 Organisers of the Manufacturing Indaba 2019 said on Thursday that this year's conference is set to unpack promising solutions that manufacturers can implement in an attempt to recover their losses resulting from the nation's rolling blackouts. Major concerns have surfaced among South African... →

Bushveld subsidiary advances Imaloto project towards financial close

By: Marleny Arnoldi 10th April 2019 Aim-listed Bushveld Minerals’ coal and energy subsidiary Lemur Holdings has signed a project preparation finance facility agreement with the Development Bank of Southern Africa for $1-million, which will be used for the development of the Imaloto project, in Madagascar. The loan will enable Lemur... →

Power shortages in South Africa could get a whole lot worse

By: Bloomberg 8th April 2019 An electricity-supply crisis is looming in South Africa that could make intermittent outages in the past few months seem trivial by comparison. Eskom Holdings, which supplies almost all the nation’s power, will lose more than a quarter of its current generating capacity over the next decade as it... →

Eskom review team says strong leadership key for restoration of plant performance

By: Terence Creamer 4th April 2019 The Eskom Technical Review Team, appointed in March to provide an independent assessment of the performance of the State-owned utility’s power stations, says several coal plants can, with strong and empowered leadership, meet the much-vaunted energy availability factor (EAF) goal of 80%. It has... →

Eskom provides system update

4th April 2019 Creamer Media's Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about a media briefing hosted by Eskom and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan at the Lethabo power station this week to update the country on the state of Eskom’s power system and whether the country is... →

Eskom provides system update

Eskom’s financial woes not abating in sync with load-shedding risk

By: Terence Creamer 3rd April 2019 The cautiously optimistic prognosis provided by Eskom on the outlook for electricity supply for the coming nine months has been more than offset by the State-owned utility’s disturbing assessment of its financial predicament. The group, which implemented ten days of confidence-sapping power cuts... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Terence Creamer
Lethabo power station

Ministerial approval for new Mozambique electricity law pending

By: Marleny Arnoldi 3rd April 2019 Mozambique’s Council of Ministers is expected to review a new proposed Electricity Law during its next Parliamentary session in July or August, law firm CGA chairperson Pedro Couto said on Wednesday. He noted that the Mozambique government had concluded the necessary public consultation process... →

Load-shedding: Eskom's plan for winter and how it will keep the lights on

By: News24Wire 3rd April 2019 Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan says that Eskom has come up with a detailed winter plan that includes several possible scenarios. Gordhan said the first scenario was if no load-shedding was implemented. →

Power cuts slow South African private sector activity in March – PMI

By: Reuters 3rd April 2019 Activity in South Africa's private sector contracted sharply in March, a survey showed on Wednesday, with firms citing electricity blackouts as the main drag on business. IHS Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slipped to 48.8 from February's 50.2 as falls in new orders and employment saw... →

Zimbabwe power utility seeks 30% tariff increase – report

By: Reuters 1st April 2019 Zimbabwe's State-owned power utility Zesa Holdings has applied to the energy regulator to raise its tariff by 30% for maintenance of its grid and after the price of inputs like diesel went up, The Herald newspaper reported on Monday. Uninterrupted power supplies are especially critical for... →

Cabinet mulls further financial support for Eskom

By: Reuters 29th March 2019 Cabinet this week discussed Eskom's financial woes and is looking at ways of giving further support to the troubled power utility, according to a statement released on Friday. "Cabinet also dealt with the financial situation of Eskom. Further options are being considered to support the power... →

CSIR engineers warn of increasing electricity prices, advise on load-shedding mitigation measures

By: Simone Liedtke 28th March 2019 While load-shedding is expected to continue plaguing South Africa for at least the next six months, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) energy systems senior engineer Joanne Calitz has also warned consumers to expect electricity prices to increase by about another 36% by 2021.... →

SAWEA welcomes High Court’s dismissal of transporters forum’s interdict against Eskom

By: Marleny Arnoldi 27th March 2019 The South African Wind Energy Association (SAWEA) has welcomed a judgment by the Pretoria High Court, dismissing a case brought by the Coal Transporters Forum (CTF) to interdict Eskom from signing duly procured power purchase agreements (PPAs) with independent power producers (IPPs). CTF had... →

Load-shedding cost billions – City of Cape Town

By: African News Agency 27th March 2019 The recent bout of load-shedding, which badly affected small businesses, is estimated to have cost billions of rands, the City of Cape Town said on Wednesday. In a statement the City said sentiment was unanimously shared across the sector that load-shedding has been crippling small businesses as... →

City of Johannesburg intent on using licence to buy power from independent producer – Mashaba

By: News24Wire 27th March 2019 Eskom has barred the City of Johannesburg from increasing its energy capacity despite having a licence to purchase power generation from other producers, mayor Herman Mashaba told journalists on Tuesday. Mashaba was speaking at a Democratic Alliance (DA) media briefing which party leader Mmusi... →

City of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba

Low carbon transition could hold $124bn risk for South Africa

By: Marleny Arnoldi 26th March 2019 Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) Energy Finance on Tuesday released its latest report, which looked at the impact of a low carbon transition on South Africa. CPI found that the impact on South Africa of a global low-carbon transition over the period of its analysis from 2013 to 2035 could be... →

High Court dismisses bid by coal transporters to interdict renewables projects

By: Terence Creamer 26th March 2019 A court application to have 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed between Eskom and 26 independent power producers (IPPs) in 2018 declare null and void has been dismissed with costs. The legal challenge was initiated last year by the Coal Transporters Forum (CTF), a voluntary... →

Global emissions hit record as energy demand boosts fuel use

By: Bloomberg 26th March 2019 Carbon emissions from fossil-fuel use hit a record last year after energy demand grew at its fastest pace in a decade, reflecting higher oil consumption in the US and more coal burning in China and India. Those findings from the International Energy Agency mark a setback for the effort to rein in... →

90 000 gold and platinum jobs at risk as Eskom hikes loom

By: Terence Creamer 25th March 2019 The Minerals Council South Africa is ringing alarm bells over the threat posed to employment and production in the gold and platinum sectors as a result of recently approved electricity tariff increases, including the 13.8% hike to be implemented from April 1. In addition, the council is warning... →

Mboweni questions need to hold onto State assets

By: Bloomberg 25th March 2019 Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said a discussion must begin on whether the government needs to retain control of all the assets it owns given the poor state of the national finances. Mboweni has asked Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan for a list of noncore State assets and has been... →

Photo by Reuters
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni

'Signs are encouraging' load-shedding will be reduced – Eskom

By: News24Wire 22nd March 2019 Eskom will implement Stage 2 load-shedding on Friday, as strain on the national grid improves and “signs are encouraging” that there will be reduced rotational power cuts as available generating capacity improves, according to Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger. Stage 2 will be implemented... →

Photo by Creamer Media
Eskom Spokesperson Andrew Etzinger

Brics Bank to lend Eskom up to $780m

By: Bloomberg 20th March 2019 The New Development Bank (NDB) plans to lend as much as $780-million to Eskom for infrastructure projects this year as the ailing power utility battles to keep power supply steady. Eskom, which on Wednesday entered a seventh day of controlled power cuts, is contending with operational and... →

Boiler-tube leaks playing big role in rise of unplanned losses to over 12 000 MW

By: Terence Creamer 20th March 2019 State-owned electricity producer Eskom has confirmed that boiler-tube leaks are significant contributor to unplanned losses of more than 12 000 MW across its coal fleet. The underperformance of the coal fleet, including those units in commercial operation at the Medupi and Kusile projects, is... →

Photo by Dylan Slater
Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer

NUM says Ramaphosa assured union no jobs would be lost in Eskom unbundling

By: Marleny Arnoldi 19th March 2019 The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday confirmed that it had met with President Cyril Ramaphosa, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Energy Minister Jeff Radebe this week. The union noted, however, that it still needed to consult with its members employed at Eskom, on the... →

Greenpeace opposes Eskom’s application to postpone air quality legislation compliance

By: Simone Liedtke 19th March 2019 Nonprofit organisation Greenpeace Africa on Tuesday reaffirmed its opposition to State-owned Eskom’s application for further postponements and/or suspensions from air quality legislation. The organisation explained that, in the interests of realising the Constitutional right to a healthy... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Dylan Slater
Greenpeace global air pollution unit lead analyst Lauri Myllyvirta

Eskom to seek special procurement dispensation to help it address ‘crisis’

By: Terence Creamer 19th March 2019 Crisis-ridden power utility Eskom is approaching the Auditor-General and the National Treasury to seek approval for a special procurement dispensation that will allow it to accelerate the purchase of critical goods and services required to address ongoing breakdowns of its coal fleet. The... →

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza

Eskom to implement 'Stage 4' load-shedding from 09:00 to 23:00

By: African News Agency 18th March 2019 Eskom said on Monday it would commence Stage 4 rotational load shedding from 09:00 to 23:00 and continue into Tuesday due to a shortage of capacity. Stage 4 load-shedding requires the state-owned utility, which supplies 95% of South Africa's electricity, to rotationally take 4 000 MW of demand... →

'Stage 4 load-shedding is unacceptable, disruptive to economy' – Gordhan

By: News24Wire 18th March 2019 Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan has said that his department and National Treasury will assist embattled power utility Eskom to fast-track the procurement of "essential goods and services" required to urgently repair generating units at local stations. South Africans suffered two... →

Photo by Bloomberg
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan

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