South Africa is enjoying a rare streak of uninterrupted electricity right before elections, drawing more suspicion than praise in a nation that’s become accustomed to the daily power cuts that have dragged on for years. The country is currently in its fourth successive week of no outages — the longest period South Africans have consistently [...]

Construction group Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) and renewable energy company Sola Group have completed construction of the Merak 2 & 3 solar photovoltaic projects near Lichtenburg, in North West. The two solar plants, with capacities of 130 MW and 126 MW, respectively, span an area of 4 km2 and will deliver power through a wheeling [...]

Enhanced regulation and enforcement are needed to address the challenges of scrap metal theft in South Africa and potentially lift the ban on scrap metal exports, research and advisory firm Birguid analyst Noquele Dube says. She explains that the scrap metal industry contributes R15-billion to South Africa's gross domestic product and employs about 350 000 [...]

Cie Maritime Belge (CMB), a Belgian shipping company, expects green hydrogen production in Namibia to start in the fourth quarter, a project that could see $3.5-billion in investment over the next five years. Belgium’s King Philippe is on Thursday touring what’s expected to be Namibia’s first operating green hydrogen plant. The Antwerp-based shipping company seeking [...]

GoSolr, a company backed by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe and the continent’s biggest bank, plans to spend R10 billion to roll out a model of renting solar panels and batteries to homes in the nation plagued by blackouts. The two-and-a-half-year-old company seeks to install about 500 megawatts of solar-generation capacity in four years. That’s [...]

Paying billions of rands in carbon tax while simultaneously investing in decarbonisation efforts is impossible, steel maker ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) CEO Kobus Verster has said. In South Africa, the carbon price is currently fixed at R308/t of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) Scope 1 emissions by 2026 and will increase to R462/t by 2030, while tax-free [...]

Sub-Saharan Africa holds an estimated 30% of the world’s volume of proven critical mineral reserves and managing their use properly as part of the global transition to clean energy has the potential to transform the region, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) states in its ‘Regional Economic Outlook’ report. The global transition to clean energy is [...]

Execution and preparatory work on key gold projects are on track in South Africa, and early works on the copper project in Australia are to commence, Harmony Gold reported on Tuesday. In South Africa, the Moab Khotsong gold mine extension and the Mine Waste Solutions development are on track, along with preparatory work being under [...]

Two solar photovoltaic (PV) projects selected as preferred bids under Bid Window 6 (BW6) of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) renewable energy procurement programme reached commercial close on April 30. The projects, which were part of a group of six PV projects to advance to preferred-bidder status for a 1 000 MW allocation [...]

GE Vernova invested $10.2-million in Xlinks First, the UK company planning a massive renewable power project in Morocco and a 4 000 km undersea cable to deliver the energy to Britain. The investment helped close the latest funding round for Xlinks First, capping $110-million raised to date, according to CEO James Humfrey. It’s an incremental [...]

More than 70% of critical minerals needed for the transition to net zero emissions will be at risk from climate disruption by 2050, professional services firm PwC says. The firm's latest report, titled ‘Climate Risks to Nine Key Commodities Report’, shows that the production of copper, cobalt and lithium minerals crucial for the clean energy [...]

The price of petrol, both 93 and 95, will increase by 37c/ℓ as of May 1, while diesel prices will decrease by 30c/ℓ and 36c/ℓ for 0.05% sulphur and 0.005% sulphur, respectively, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has announced. It notes that the average Brent crude oil price increased from $84.22 to [...]