The rarity of platinum, combined with a decline in supply and overwhelming demand, is a formula for a build-up of a “perfect storm”, says independent precious metals consultant Dr David Davis, who says that this will lead to significant upward pressure on the price of platinum, to which investors have already begun to react.

Given that platinum plays a critical role in the reduction of global warming and its essential role in diverse industrial and medical applications, global mine supply of the precious metal has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 1.7% between 1990 and 2020.

In 2019, global mine supply was about 6.1-million ounces, according to research done by science and chemicals company Johnson Matthey (JM). Mine supply is, however, not without risk, as it depends heavily on the South African platinum group metals (PGMs) industry, which supplies about 72% of global platinum.

Global mine supply between 2006 and 2019 declined by a CAGR of 1%, while South African platinum supply declined by a CAGR of 1.4% mainly owing to the historical evolution of the mining mix ratio of the PGM reefs in South Africa

In a presentation authored by Davis, he notes that the PGMs industry has also been “starved” of expansion and ore reserve replacement capital for a number of years, though miners are now beginning to invest in reserve replacement.

While this quantum of investment is unlikely to stave off the decline in platinum supply, Davis notes that growth in platinum recycling from 2011 to 2020 has also remained relatively flat at an average of 1.2-million ounces.

“The quantum of platinum autocatalysts recovered by recycling is not expected to grow [up to] 2025 as platinum loadings are historically lower in light vehicles that are about to be scrapped, given the average age of light-duty vehicles being around 12 years.”

In comparison, Davis says the quantum of palladium autocatalysts recovered by recycling is expected to climb to over four-million ounces by 2025 from about two-million ounces at present.

This observation is important in that Davis says platinum secondary recycling supply will not likely support the expected decline in primary mine supply, thereby tightening platinum supply in a climate of ever-increasing demand.

Read more......

Cape Town - An application to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) for a licence to generate solar electricity at Old Mutual Park, which could take the site in Pinelands off the electricity grid, has caught both the Province and the City unawares.

A company called 35 Degrees Limited put out a notice notifying residents of Pinelands, Thornton and Maitland of its intention to set up a solar power generation facility at Old Mutual Park.

According to the notice: “All interested parties and/or any member of the public may lodge written objections with Nersa, within 14 days from the date of this publication. Such objections must be in a form of an affidavit and must be directed to Nersa.

“The licence application is available for inspection at Pinelands Public Library and interested parties have been asked to contact Wilhelm Cronje on telephone number 021 530 7160,” said the notice.

The plan is for Old Mutual Park on Jan Smuts Drive in Pinelands to leave the electricity grid and generate its own power via a 4.9 MW Solar photovoltaic (PV) generation plant. This move comes three years after Old Mutual went off the water grid with its its own water filtration plant in 2018.

Asked whether the City was aware of the application, Mayco member for energy and climate change Phindile Maxiti said: “No, as far as we know at this stage, this seems to be a plant for own generation and use by a private firm and does not directly pertain to the City of Cape Town.

“In general, the City welcomes all investment, big or small, into renewable energy as every bit helps to change our course to more affordable, cleaner, equitable and secure energy of supply and diversification of our energy mix away from the sole reliance on Eskom,” said Maxiti.

Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier said: “We are aware of the investment in solar PV that Old Mutual has already made on their Old Mutual site. However, we were not aware of the application. However, we support it.”

Maynier said: “In our aim to become more energy-resilient in the Western Cape, we have been supporting businesses investing in solar PV since 2015.

“Enabling businesses to build their own energy resilience through the use of solar PV allows for greater cost efficiencies for the business and also contributes to growth of the green economy in the province,” he said.

The move by Old Mutual comes as the Stellenbosch Municipality announced it had launched a joint scientific investigation into alternate energy sources with Stellenbosch University and the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in a bid to eliminate load shedding.

Municipality spokesperson Stuart Grobbelaar said: “This puts Stellenbosch in the lead to potentially become the first municipality in the country to eliminate load shedding.”

Kigeni Energy director Gavin Goldblatt said: “Both Kigeni and Old Mutual are excited to be helping the City of Cape Town and the South African economy to resolve the ongoing power supply problems and price hikes through building the largest rooftop solar power generation plant in the Western Cape.”

“President Ramaphosa has specifically requested private involvement of this nature and promised expedited license approvals and we are confident that, as we have met all application requirements, Nersa will swiftly provide us with our license and the City will assist us with connecting to the grid,” said Goldblatt.    Source.......

Sasol and Air Liquide have formally announced plans to jointly procure 900 MW of renewable-energy capacity from independent power producers (IPPs) by 2030 and have issued a request for proposal (RFP) through which they aim to procure an initial 600 MW this year.

The transaction, the companies said in a statement, represented the largest renewable-energy procurement deal from the private sector in South Africa and the renewable electricity generated by the IPPs would supply Sasol’s operations in Secunda, Mpumalanga.

The companies are acting jointly following the R8.5-billion acquisition, by Air Liquide in July, of Sasol’s air separation units (ASUs) at the Secunda site, which are fully integrated into the chemicals and energy complex.

Both companies have commitments to reduce their greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, with Sasol having set an official target of reducing its emissions by 10% by 2030, from a 2017 baseline of 63.9-million carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) tons yearly to 57.5-million CO2e tons.

That target has been heavily criticised as lacking ambition by various environmental groups as well as shareholder activists, but CEO Fleetwood Grobler told Engineering News in February that Sasol had also initiated work on a 2050 GHG emissions reduction roadmap, which could incorporate a higher level of ambition.

More details on the plan would be published at Sasol’s 2021 Capital Markets Day in the second half of the current calendar year.

“Sasol is committed to further reduction opportunities to accelerate our decarbonisation efforts, aligned with our 2030 roadmap and with a focus on green hydrogen, the introduction of natural gas and energy efficiency improvements,” the company said when announcing the RFP.

Sasol said its collaboration with Air Liquide had already enabled it to increase its initial procurement target of 600 MW to 900 MW by 2030.

During the initial procurement phase, Air Liquide would procure 400 MW and Sasol 200 MW, while the individual projects must demonstrate a generation capacity of at least 70 MW, which would position them to produce about 200 GWh of electricity yearly.

 The closing date for submissions of expressions of interest is April 23. 

“Due to the highly integrated nature of the Secunda site and the footprint associated with the ASUs, collaboration between the companies is necessary to ensure optimal GHG reduction benefits,” Sasol chief procurement officer: energy business Lebelo Lukhele said.

“It is anticipated that a collaborative approach will not only result in the original Sasol commitment for the Secunda site being met, but will also be exceeded through the combined efforts.”

Air Liquide Africa Middle East and India VP Ronnie Chalmers described the call for tenders as a major lever to the decarbonise the Secunda ASUs.

Read more........

​While Eskom is currently slated to pay low tariffs for electricity from Karpowership’s three vessels, this could fluctuate wildly over the course of the next 20 years – potentially resulting in a massive rise in the cost of electricity from these units.

This is according economist Mike Schussler, who explained to the City Press that the price of electricity from these ships will change in accordance with the international price of liquefied natural gas and the rand/dollar exchange rate.

Since the contract is for 20 years, what is now a cost-effective project could therefore become a massive nightmare for consumers down the line.

Schussler highlighted how a similar situation happened with an aluminium smelter at Richards Bay.

The cost of this power was linked to the price of aluminium on the London Stock Exchange, as well as to international exchange rates and other foreign considerations.

Independent analyst Ryk de Klerk calculated in 2020 that Eskom had incurred R15 billion in losses since 2013 due to the above aluminium smelter situation.

Schussler is worried that the powerships could present the same problem in the long-term.

A “fast, effective, reliable” solution
Karpowership advertises its ships as a “fast, flexible, reliable” solution to energy supply needs.

These ships will also be costly, as the CSIR calculated that South Africa could pay up to R218 billion across its 20-year contract with the energy company.

Experts have criticised the length of this contract.

“That the South African government would procure one [powership] for 20 years speaks to the depths of the country’s power crisis, and questionable long-term planning in light of dropping renewables costs,” said Antoine Vagneur-Jones, an analyst at BNEF’s energy transition policy team for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Vagneur-Jones said that most similar contracts have spanned no longer than 10 years.

In response to queries over the variable cost of internationally-sourced liquefied natural gas, Powership said: “Costs are kept low by Karpowership’s reach into the LNG market and an exclusive, long-term deal with Shell.”

Department of Mineral Resources and Energy Deputy Director General, Jacob Mbele, also told energy expert Chris Yelland that government hopes to source liquified natural gas in South Africa over the course of the contract, which would reduce costs significantly.

“Yes, we currently don’t have gas in South Africa. But there are explorations that are happening, and there are findings. It is likely that, in the future, the gas for these powerships will come from local fields,” said Mbele.

“When local gas becomes available, I can see a situation where this local gas will become the cheapest option, because it will be sourced closest to where it will be required and used.”

How powerships will fight load-shedding
Karpowership SA will dock its powerships at Coega, Richards Bay, and Saldanha, and this will provide a combined 1,200MW of ship-to-shore electricity.

Internationally-sourced liquified natural gas will be channeled into generators on the powerships to produce electricity.

The power is fed directly into the transmission network from an onboard high voltage substation.

These powerships are envisioned to be a key part of providing sufficient power to the troubled South African energy grid.

source......

The cost of harvesting solar energy has dropped so much in recent years that it's giving traditional energy sources a run for their money. However, the challenges of energy storage -- which require the capacity to bank an intermittent and seasonally variable supply of solar energy -- have kept the technology from being economically competitive.

Cornell University researchers led by Lynden Archer, Dean and Professor of Engineering, have been exploring the use of low-cost materials to create rechargeable batteries that will make energy storage more affordable. Now, they have shown that a new technique incorporating aluminum results in rechargeable batteries that offer up to 10,000 error-free cycles.

This new kind of battery could provide a safer and more environmentally friendly alternative to lithium-ion batteries, which currently dominate the market but are slow to charge and have a knack for catching fire.

The team's paper, "Regulating Electrodeposition Morphology in High-Capacity Aluminium and Zinc Battery Anodes Using Interfacial Metal-Substrate Bonding," published in Nature Energy.

Among the advantages of aluminum is that it is abundant in the earth's crust, it is trivalent and light, and it therefore has a high capacity to store more energy than many other metals. However, aluminum can be tricky to integrate into a battery's electrodes. It reacts chemically with the glass fiber separator, which physically divides the anode and the cathode, causing the battery to short circuit and fail.

The researchers' solution was to design a substrate of interwoven carbon fibers that forms an even stronger chemical bond with aluminum. When the battery is charged, the aluminum is deposited into the carbon structure via covalent bonding, i.e., the sharing of electron pairs between aluminum and carbon atoms.

While electrodes in conventional rechargeable batteries are only two dimensional, this technique uses a three-dimensional -- or nonplanar -- architecture and creates a deeper, more consistent layering of aluminum that can be finely controlled.

The aluminum-anode batteries can be reversibly charged and discharged one or more orders of magnitude more times than other aluminum rechargeable batteries under practical conditions.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Cornell University. Original written by David Nutt. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

​The development of the PV industry is a continuous pursuit of the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), especially at the critical moment of global energy transition, reducing cost and improving efficiency in relation to PV modules has
become an important way to reduce LCOE, which is usually achieved in two ways: continuous improvement in the cells’ conversion efficiency and module power output and constant decrease in the cost per watt of PV modules.
In recent years, PV power generation technology seems to be updated at a quicker pace, as evidenced by the faster-than-conventional speed in updating product technology. Especially since 2019, as driven by large-size silicon wafer technology, there have appeared various types of ultra-high-power modules, directly pushing up the most leading module power from 410W in 2019 to 445W in the first half of 2020 and further to 500W+ or even higher in the second half of 2020.
Read more in ​the Technical White Paper of JA Solar DeepBlue 3.0

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) have announced a delay in the release of documentation for the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) Bid Window 5.
The delay is as a result of a need to align certain parts of the RFP documents with the feedback from National Treasury on the PPPFA exemption application.
Government remains committed to the urgent procurement of the much-needed energy to power our economic recovery.
We are working in earnest to ensure that this delay does not negatively affect the timelines we have set out to get these projects connected to the grid.
The Department intends to release the documentation for BW 5 RFP not later than 12 April 2021.

A Turkish company providing services in energy sector is interested in cooperating with South African companies on possible energy projects in South Africa.
 
In case further information is required please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sultan Onacak (Mrs)
Marketing Officer
South African Embassy
Ankara
Turkey
Tel: +90 312 4056863 Fax: +90 312 446 6434
Mob: +90 535 1053169
E-Mail: onacaks@dirco.gov.za
www.southafrica.org.tr
..................................................................................................
Aktrem Group is pleased to introduce itself to you.
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We are a group established in 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey.
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We also built the largest landfill gas power plant in the world in Turkey -İstanbul (Seymen Energy Power Plant in Siliviri area).
We are glad to have information about South Africa's potential in this business.
If it is possible, we invite you to visit the catalogs in the links below
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And also we are glad if you visit our website.
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