The grievance procedure brought against Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer has been brought to finality and he has been cleared of all wrongdoing in a payment dispute with a contractor, construction company Aveng, power utility Eskom said in a statement on September 25. Following a court’s findings against Eskom on a payment dispute with Aveng, Eskom [...]

At Glencore’s Raglan Mine in Canada, a closed loop, microgrid system converts excess wind power to hydrogen, which is then stored in tanks. A fuel cell produces electricity from the stored green hydrogen during low wind power period, and within the facility are also innovations such as a battery energy storage system with flywheel generation [...]

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on September 25 gazetted a Section 34 Determination to procure energy from independent power producers. This paves the way for Bid Window 5 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) and the Independent Power Producer (IPP) Office has set the long-stop date for projects under the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) to start commercial operation as the end of June 2022. The programme was gazetted by the department on July 17, with the aim [...]

While the viability of rehabilitiating mined land for agricultural purposes is still being debated and researched, there are success stories in the making, where mining companies are helping their host communities develop sustainable agricultural economies as mining activity winds down. These agri-economies can help to sustain employment numbers in areas where mining had been the [...]

Russia’s State-owned nuclear energy group Rosatom signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the African Commission on Nuclear Energy (Afcone) this week. The MoU, signed simultaneously in Pretoria and Moscow, provides for cooperation between the two organisations in the peace uses of nuclear energy. The MoU establishes the basis for Rosatom and Afcone to cooperate [...]

Tesla plans to manufacture a car that will cost $25 000 in about three years’ time, fulfilling an elusive long-term objective to sell a cheap mass-market electric vehicle, CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday. “This has always been our dream from the very beginning,” Musk said at an event showcasing Tesla’s technology. “In about three years [...]

The government’s undertaking to reprioritise State funding in order to finance State-owned national flag carrier South African Airways (SAA) and so prevent its liquidation represented a defeat for the National Treasury (NT) and undermined the credibility of the government, Intellidex analyst Peter Attard Montalto argued on Tuesday. The government’s decision has completely contradicted previous assurances by the [...]

JSE-listed Equites Property Fund has closed a R1.6-billion sustainability-linked loan with Standard Bank aimed at promoting the achievement of various environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) targets. The funding deal reflects that sustainable finance solutions in the African market are starting to gain traction as corporates and investors increase their focus on ESG considerations, says [...]

An independent expert Rothschild & Co has determined that a material adverse change (MAC) has not occurred in the proposed sale of Tongaat Hulett's starch business to Barloworld subsidiary KLL Group. Tongaat in February agreed to sell the starch business to the Barloworld subsidiary for R5.35-billion.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) says that Eskom should remain the buyer of the electricity produced by independent power producers (IPPs) and procured by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) in line with a new Section 34 Ministerial determination for 11 813 MW of new generation capacity. The regulator recently concurred [...]

The 14.4 GW of new wind included in South Africa’s electricity plan positions the country as a “top ten” wind-energy market for the coming decade, while building capacity at the yearly tempo of 1 600 MW envisaged in the plan could attract R40-billion a year in new investment and create 144 000 fulltime jobs by 2030. Speaking [...]