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Electricity News

Kangnas Wind Farm starts commercial operations

By: Donna Slater 16th November 2020 The Kangnas Wind Farm on November 15 achieved its commercial operations date, making it the first Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) Bid Window 4 wind farm in the Northern Cape to come on stream. Construction started in June, 2018 but was halted by the... →

Opinion: Breathing fresh air into old coal power stations

13th November 2020 In this opinion piece, Wärtsilä South African business development manager Wayne Glossop writes about the benefits of converting old coal-fired power plants to modern gas engine power plants. AGL Energy Limited undertook a successful transformation of an old coal plant to a modern flexible gas... →

Sasol working to reset business for low-carbon world

13th November 2020 Financially and environmentally beleaguered energy and chemicals group Sasol is working to reset its business for a low-carbon world. Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer unpacks the emerging strategy. →

Sasol working to reset business for low-carbon world

Eskom ordered to rectify pollution issues at three power plants

By: Bloomberg 13th November 2020 Eskom Holdings, South Africa’s state power utility, was ordered to comply with pollution limits at three of its coal-fired plants this year while two more are being investigated, the government’s environment department said in its first disclosure about most of the orders. The violations listed... →

Vivo sees growth potential for hybrid fuel, solar energy solution in Africa's mining sector

By: Tasneem Bulbulia 13th November 2020 Vivo Energy, which sells and distributes Shell- and Engen-branded fuels and lubricants in Africa, believes it will be able to transform how energy is supplied to mines across the continent. It announced last month that it had reached an agreement to supply Canadian mining company Robex Resources'... →

Cape Town’s largest bus company now a net exporter of green energy

By: Irma Venter 13th November 2020 Cape Town’s largest bus company, Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS), has become a net exporter of electricity. This achievement is the culmination of a multiyear collaborative effort between Golden Arrow, New Southern Energy and the City of Cape Town. →

Glencore tests market for self-generation solutions at chrome, vanadium operations

By: Terence Creamer 12th November 2020 Mining group Glencore has issued a pre-qualifying tender for companies interested in supplying ‘alternative green’ electricity and storage solutions to its chrome and vanadium operations in South Africa. In the tender notice, Glencore Alloys states that the generation facilities should have a... →

Makwetu hailed as gentle, unwavering giant in the fight against corruption

By: Sane Dhlamini 12th November 2020 Business Unity South Africa (Busa) president Sipho Pityana has hailed outgoing Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu as a gentle and yet unwavering giant in the fight against corruption and maladministration, following the news of his death. Makwetu died on Wednesday, at a hospital in Johannesburg,... →

Kimi Makwetu

CER lauds court halting Thabametsi power station plans

By: Marleny Arnoldi 12th November 2020 The Centre for Environmental Rights says major climate impacts and exorbitant costs have managed to sound the death knell for one of the last new proposed coal-fired power stations in South Africa. The environmental organisation’s statement follows the successful setting aside of plans for the... →

Marubeni to pull out of South African coal-fired power plant project

By: Reuters 12th November 2020 Japanese resources company Marubeni Corp will pull out of the Thabametsi South African coal plant project, the group told Reuters on Wednesday, following the withdrawal of some South African investors this week. Marubeni's exit from the 630 megawatt (MW) Thabametsi coal-based power plant project... →

European firms say South Africa’s poor utilities deter investment

By: Bloomberg 12th November 2020 European businesses are delaying investment in South Africa because of poor power and water supply and the costs of complying with Black economic empowerment legislation, representatives of an industry body said. South Africa has suffered intermittent power outages since 2008 after the state... →

Rolls-Royce cites jobs potential if UK government enables small modular reactor fleet

By: Rebecca Campbell 12th November 2020 UK-based global major industrial technology group Rolls-Royce stated on Wednesday that it expected to create 6 000 jobs in the midlands and north of England within five years, if the British government clearly committed itself to enabling the construction of 16 small modular nuclear reactors... →

Photo by Rolls-Royce
An artist’s impression of a UKSMR power plant

SANEDI rolls out cool roof project in Cape Town

By: Simone Liedtke 11th November 2020 The South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) is rolling out 26 000 m2 of cool roofing technology in the City of Cape Town as part of the Cool Roofs and Insulation Collaboration. The purpose of the roll out is to demonstrate the power of passive cooling when cool coatings are... →

Bushveld nears construction of solar plant at Vametco mine

By: Marleny Arnoldi 11th November 2020 Aim-listed Bushveld Minerals continues to progress with the hybrid minigrid project being developed at the Vametco vanadium mine, near Brits, on the Western Limb of the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. The project comprises 3.5 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation and 4 MWh of vanadium... →

Bushveld's Vametco mine will see built a 3.5 MW solar photovoltaic and storage plant

UP partners with Bambili, EWSeta, DSI to train graduates on fuel cell systems

By: Marleny Arnoldi 11th November 2020 The University of Pretoria (UP) will, for the next month, provide training for technical and vocational education and training college graduates on hydrogen fuel cell systems. The training, which is provided in partnership with Bambili Energy, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and... →

Sasol pins low-carbon ‘reset’ hopes on gas, renewables and green hydrogen

By: Terence Creamer 11th November 2020 Energy and chemicals group Sasol, which is coming under increasing pressure to reduce its carbon emissions, reports that climate change is now “front and centre” in its unfolding ‘strategic reset’, which will involve a transition away from coal to gas, renewable energy and green hydrogen. In... →

Photo by Creamer Media's Donna Slater
Sasol CEO Fleetwood Grobler

Covid-19 accelerates energy transitions - PwC

By: Donna Slater 11th November 2020 Assurance, advisory and tax services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reports – through its newly released Africa Oil & Gas Review, titled Energising a New Tomorrow – that the rampant spread of the Covid-19 pandemic globally has resulted in galvanising of commitments to a green energy... →

PwC energy strategy and infrastructure director James Mackay discusses how Covid-19 has sped up developments in the green energy sector.

Absa considers a combined solar, EV finance package, should domestic market grow

By: Irma Venter 11th November 2020 Absa is mulling the roll-out of a finance mechanism for electric vehicles (EVs) that will incorporate a solar home installation to charge that vehicle, says Absa Vehicle and Asset Finance (AVAF) business analytics and strategy head Henry Botha. However, before that can happen, South Africa’s EV... →

Henry Botha

Opaque fossil fuel subsidies put South Africa near bottom of G20 list

By: Donna Slater 10th November 2020 South Africa emerged as the second worst performer of the G20 non-Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (non-OECD) member countries, according to a November 10 report, titled 'Doubling Back and Doubling Down: G20 Scorecard on Fossil Fuel Funding'. The report ranks countries... →

Sun Exchange launches first of three crowd sales for 1.9 MW solar project in Zim

By: Marleny Arnoldi 10th November 2020 Peer-to-peer solar leasing platform Sun Exchange has launched a crowd sale for Phase 1 of a multiphase 1.9 MW solar and storage project for fresh produce exporter Nhimbe Fresh, in Zimbabwe. This will be the largest Sun Exchange solar installation to date and the first outside of South Africa. →

Nhimbe Fresh, in Zimbabwe

Renewables display Covid immunity with record 2020 and strong outlook

By: Terence Creamer 10th November 2020 New additions of renewable-energy capacity worldwide will increase to a record level of almost 200 GW this year, shrugging off the demand slump that accompanied the Covid-19 crisis and which negatively affected the demand for fossil fuels. In addition, a new International Energy Agency (IEA)... →

Nersa to consider nuclear-determination consultation request at upcoming meeting

By: Terence Creamer 10th November 2020 The National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) electricity subcommittee (ELS) will consider a request for consultation on concurrence with a Section 34 Ministerial determination for the procurement of 2 500 MW of nuclear capacity when it meets on Wednesday November 11. Fulltime member... →

Fulltime member of the regulator for electricity regulation Nhlanhla Gumede

Rolls-Royce signs second small modular nuclear reactor memorandum in two days

By: Rebecca Campbell 9th November 2020 Rolls-Royce, the UK-based global industrial technology group, announced on Monday that it has signed its second Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in two days. This second MoU is with predominantly State-owned Czech electricity utility CEZ, which is... →

Long-term operations, maintenance contract awarded for Kuvaninga power plant

By: Donna Slater 9th November 2020 Power plant services provider ADC Projects and Austrian energy engineering company ECI-Distribution have jointly been awarded the long-term operations and preventive and corrective maintenance contract for the Kuvaninga Energia power plant, in Mozambique. The plant is operated and maintained by... →

Eskom Political Task Team remains concerned about debt owed to the utility

By: Yvonne Silaule 9th November 2020 The Eskom Political Task Team has agreed that all avenues should be explored to deal with the utility's debt challenge, including dealing with the underlying causes; for example inefficiencies, cost overruns, misappropriation of funds, cash losses due to unpaid debt by municipalities and other... →

South Africa aims to nail down R664bn in investment pledges at Nov gathering amid Covid-19 ‘shock’

By: Terence Creamer 9th November 2020 The third yearly South Africa Investment Conference (SAIC), which will take place on November 17 and 18, will focus primarily on ensuring the investment pledges of R664-billion made in 2018 and 2019 are not derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Government also intends using the platform to... →

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel

UK and US groups partner on small modular nuclear reactors

By: Rebecca Campbell 9th November 2020 UK-based global major industrial technology group Rolls-Royce and giant US private-sector electricity utility Exelon have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the development and operation of small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power plants (NPPs). Rolls-Royce is leading a... →

Photo by Rolls-Royce
Artist’s impression of a UKSMR plant

Just transition away from coal lies in diversified municipal economies, says TIPS

By: Marleny Arnoldi 6th November 2020 During a Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) Development Dialogue webinar hosted recently, experts agreed that the brunt of a transition away from coal would be borne by vulnerable stakeholders and that it had to be mitigated. The webinar explored ground-level impacts associated with a... →

Eskom's losses, tariffs back in the spotlight

6th November 2020 Creamer Media's Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Creamer Media Editor Terence Creamer about power utility Eskom's unsustainable debt position and financial loss and the tariff increases it is seeking. →

Eskom's losses, tariffs back in the spotlight

Bearing isolators faring well in bearings sector

6th November 2020 Bearings distributor BMG tells Engineering News that its Garlock Klozure and Guardian Bearing Isolators have fared notably well subsequent to being introduction to the BMG range of isolators. A bearing isolator is an advanced sealing solution that is used to protect bearings on rotating equipment... →

SURE SOLUTION The Garlock sealing solutions offered by BMG have proven effective in many environments

Flowmeters can reduce wasted energy

By: Cameron Mackay 6th November 2020 Specialised importer and distributor of industrial and electronic products Actum Group offers a range of energy efficient products to service a variety of industrial and electric applications. “In our energy efficiency range, we have world-leading brands that can help customers run not only a... →

Cooling equipment to increase energy efficiency of data centres

By: Cameron Mackay 6th November 2020 There is a significant push to provide energy efficient technologies for data centre applications to reduce their carbon footprint and reduce energy costs. Consequently, data centres can save significantly in terms of energy and associated costs by ensuring their cooling solutions are designed... →

RORY REID MPT are well-known for our critical power solutions, but need to grow the market awareness of our ideal HVAC applications in the data centre arena

Company releases efficient lighting range

6th November 2020 Lighting technology manufacturer BEKA Schréder last month announced the launch of the ECOBAY, a light-emitting-diode (LED) lighting range with a high return on investment. According to BEKA Schréder, ECOBAY is the ideal luminaire for lighting industrial facilities at optimised light levels, and... →

LIGHTING THE WAY ECOBAY has a long lifetime and requires low maintenance, as lamps do not need to be replaced for more than 10 years

Noticeable growth in smart home market

By: Cameron Mackay 6th November 2020 There has been noteworthy growth in the local smart home and building automation market in the past three years, owing to the growing demand for energy efficiency, says automation solutions provider ElectroMechanica (EM) product manager Ryan Whitelaw. EM has focused on expanding its product... →

AUTOMATION AT HOME Coviva is a wireless, smart home control and retrofit technology system that can be used to retrofit older buildings with smart automation solutions

Pandemic prompts local focus on energy efficiency

By: Cameron Mackay 6th November 2020 Owing to Covid-19, the South African National Energy Development Institute (Sanedi) has witnessed an increase in the number of new applications from companies for the Section 12L Energy Efficiency tax incentive. “With companies aiming to be competitive under the pandemic and remain in business,... →

BARRY BREDENKAMP The economic benefits of energy efficiency are indisputable and will assist companies that are re-starting their operations

Shift in strategy to maximise offering

By: Halima Frost 6th November 2020 Bearings manufacturer and distributor SKF held a virtual webinar last month to discuss the company’s three-pronged strategy shift to better meet client requirements. “The strategy has encouraged every part of the company to rethink the way it works, especially SKF’s core research and development... →

LEARNING CURVE The ability to re-look at the company's research and development strategy has been important to SKF during the Covid-19 pandemic

Eskom says it needs R23bn more from tariffs in 2021 to remain a going concern

By: Terence Creamer 5th November 2020 State-owned electricity utility Eskom argued on Thursday that it required additional revenue of R23-billion for the upcoming financial year to remain a going concern and told the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) that further tariff increases, beyond the 5.22% already approved for... →

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