The building of the R105-billion green ammonia project by Hive Hydrogen South Africa is poised to be a huge economic uplift for the Eastern Cape. The large project is the first phase of a multi-phase venture that will be constructed over 16 years. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

South Africa recorded reduced foreign direct investment inflows of R26-billion ($1.40-billion) in the third quarter of 2023, from R53.8-billion in the second quarter, central bank data showed on Thursday. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said in its Quarterly Bulletin that the inflows were due to non-resident parent entities granting loans and increasing their equity [...]

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has released the much-anticipated and delayed seventh bid window (BW7) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), through which it will be seeking bids for the development of 3 200 MW of wind and 1 800 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV). In a statement, [...]

South Africa’s Eskom Holdings is on track to post its seventh consecutive full-year loss as the utility crumbles under the weight of its debt pile and high financing costs, poor plant performance and a ballooning municipality arrears book. The state-owned electricity provider posted a 1.62 billion-rand ($85 million) interim profit in the period through Sept. [...]

South Africa’s government and the business community set a target of boosting the economic growth rate by as much as six percentage points by fixing the country’s collapsing ports and freight-rail network. They predict that cracking down on crime and corruption may save as much as 300 billion rand ($16 billion) a year, according to [...]

This week’s announcements of government’s plan to pursue the procurement process for 2 500 MW of new nuclear capacity, along with Cabinet’s decision to endorse a R3.7-billion investment deal between PetroSA and Gazprombank to resuscitate the gas-to-liquids refinery in Mossel Bay, “appear to have been taken in haste and lack sufficient transparency, clarity and rationality”, the Organisation Undoing Tax [...]

The Power Operations & Leadership Association of Southern Africa (Polasa) believes the famine-then-feast profile of Eskom’s execution plan for the roll-out of new transmission infrastructure will starve an already embattled domestic industry to the point where it will be unable to make the manufacturing and skills investments required to participate in the later steep rise [...]

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the controversial decision by Cabinet to approve a proposed partnership with a Russian company to support the restart of the mothballed gas-to-liquids refinery in Mossel Bay, as well as proposed plans for government to procure 2 500 MW of new nuclear capacity.  

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the establishment of the Presidential PhD Initiative, through the initial investment of R1-billion from the National Skills Fund. The President was delivering the keynote address at the inaugural Presidential Plenary on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), held on December 12 at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in [...]

Researchers at the University of Lancaster in the UK have determined that significant space weather events could interfere with railway signalling systems at sea level, on Earth, thereby creating safety risks and even causing accidents. Severe space weather events could create what are called ‘geomagnetically induced currents’ (GICs) which could interfere with electrical systems, including [...]

The South African government will publish a request for proposals (RFP) for 2 500 MW of new nuclear capacity by March 2024, following the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) concurrence with a procurement determination published in 2020. Nersa’s concurrence, which was provided on September 2, had been conditional on the Department of Mineral Resources [...]

South Africa’s PetroSA aims to make a final investment decision (FID) by April on a project designed to support the resumption of production at the mothballed gas-to-liquids (GTL) refinery in Mossel Bay, following receipt of Cabinet’s backing for its controversial selection of Russia’s GazpromBank Africa as the project’s investment partner. The endorsement was made at [...]