Energy solutions company Novo Energy on Friday launched a R130-million large-scale natural gas compression facility at the Highveld industrial park, in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga.

The facility provides cleaner, and more reliable and cost-effective energy, compared with coal and other petroleum products.

At the launch, CEO Andri Hugo said the facility would play a significant role in helping to unlock South Africa’s power constraints, while also reducing carbon intensity.

“South Africa is a coal-based economy with about 77% of electricity generated from coal and a large portion of transportation fuels derived from the same source. Add to that the large percentage of industrial processes that use coal and you have an entire industrial sector built around cheap coal and electricity.

“But we depend heavily on imported resources for our hydrocarbon supply and this has resulted in exposure to international energy supply uncertainty, issues of reliability and price volatility,” he pointed out.

He added that although South Africa’s gas market is small, accounting for only 3% of the energy mix, the inherent benefits have the potential to change the economy by stimulating economic growth, development stability and job creation.

“Africa has been blessed with an abundance of resources, including minerals, energy, natural resources and human capital. A combination of these, through industrial activity, can address most of the socioeconomic challenges we face.

“Natural gas will play an important role in our energy mix through power generation, thermo-industrial applications and transportation and the vast natural gas discoveries on the continent will provide the key to unlocking our gas economies,” Hugo further pointed out.

Novo business development manager Justin Austin, meanwhile, said natural gas was the simplest hydrocarbon available, making it suitable as a feedstock for fertilisers, plastics and energy applications.

Natural gas can also be used as a heating fuel for industrial, commercial and residential applications, steam generation and direct heating applications, natural gas-run vehicles and power generation, he pointed out.

The eMalahleni gas compression station is Novo’s thirteenth – and its largest – such facility.

Austin said the most important application for natural gas going forward would be for power generation in remote locations, especially for remote mines that do not have grid accessibility and are using diesel as an energy source.

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posted by Liesl Frankson on September 15, 2017 in Construction, News, Other infrastructure, Transport​
A new open-access liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plant was opened this week at the Port of Saldanha on the West Coast of South Africa.
The 30-year contract for the planning, construction and operation of the terminal was awarded to Sunrise Energy, a partnership between the South African private and public sectors, by Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) in 2013.
Saldanha Port Manager Vernal Jones said the R109 billion investment would create broader LPG access in the Western Cape and aid in increasing the use of environmentally-friendly and affordable LPG in the national energy mix.
“The terminal will boost the capacity of existing LPG distributors as well as enable the entry of new small, medium-sized and microenterprises, who have had restricted access to the market because of supply constraints and lack of access to enabling infrastructure,” he added.
The future of LPG imports and exportsThe facility comprises a 10.9 hectare landside terminal and waterside multi-buoy mooring connected via a three kilometre subsea and over-land pipeline.
Phase 1 of the terminal entails five tanks with 5 500 tonnes of storage, allowing for a monthly capacity of 17 500 tonnes of LPG. Construction of Phase 1 was completed on schedule and a trial shipment was handled at the terminal at the end of May 2017.
Phases 2 and 3 of the project will see modular expansion that will enable the terminal to meet regional LPG supply demands for the next 27 years.
The Sunrise Energy Terminal is poised to become the country’s largest such facility for handling both imports and exports of LPG the ports authority said.
Earlier this month TNPA’s 24-year concession awarded to black-empowered Burgan Cape Terminals saw a new independent fuel storage, distribution and loading facility become fully operational at the Port of Cape Town.

Commission’s Report relating to the market enquiry into the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Sector
Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Energy
05 September 2017

Download here (Pdf)......

Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant will on Tuesday host an information-sharing session with interested and affected communities and organisations in the Western Cape on the potential of shale gas development through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The Deputy Minister will engage communities on the impact of shale gas development on water resources, the environment, and the economic potential to be derived from development of the resource.

The session will take place at the Rustdene sports ground, in Beaufort West.
After years of contention, Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane earlier this month took a decision to proceed with the development of shale gas in the country’s Karoo formation, “based on the balance of available scientific evidence”. 

Source.......

​​Electricity generation using gas as a fuel has great potential to meet the growing needs of many African countries, especially with a peaking-plant application, according to Cape Town-based engineering firm MTU South Africa, a subsidiary of UK-based engines, propulsion systems and distributed power generation plant manufacturer Rolls-Royce Power Systems.

Research suggests that the capacity to supply electricity to cities across the continent will rise from 90 GW in 2012 to 380 GW by 2040. This is further exacerbated by the belief that half of the global population growth is expected to occur in Africa in the next 20 years.

www.mtuonsiteenergy.com/fileadmin/_processed_/csm_teaserErdgas_4000_a508459c1b.jpgSource.....

Leading South African financial institution Standard Bank has confirmed that it is keen to participate in the funding of South Africa’s gas-to-power (GTP) programme and that it is eagerly awaiting the release of the project information memorandum, outlining government’s preferred procurement model.
The Department of Energy (DoE) envisages the development of 3 700 MW of new gas-fired power generation, with 3 100 MW to be developed by independent power producers (IPPs) and the 600 MW balance in a public-private partnership with State-owned companies.

​Standard Bank head of power Rentia van Tonder tells Engineering News Online that the bank, which has been a major funder of Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) projects and which is supporting participating bidders for the first coal baseload IPP bid window, is keen to participate.
That said, she expects the GTP programme to raise a number of funding considerations, with government’s IPP Office showing a preference for a “bundled” offer that integrates the infrastructure required to import gas, including a floating storage regasification unit, and the power generation projects.

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