​THE Shoprite Group now generates enough electricity to power over 1 100 households – 12 300 MWh of electricity – a year from solar energy, following the installation of rooftop PV (photovoltaic) panels at 19 sites in South Africa and Namibia.

The Group has also fitted 649 solar panels to the roofs of its refrigerated trucks, which generate 760 MWh annually – enough power to run 1 040 refrigerators for a full year. These allow drivers to switch off truck ignitions at delivery locations, reducing noise and exhaust pollution, while keeping the cold chain intact.

There are now 18 stores throughout South Africa and Namibia in the Group that harness the power of the sun for their operations. These include Checkers Plettenberg Bay Mall, Sitari, Gordons Bay, Constantia, Hermanus and Whale Coast Mall and Shoprite Strand (Western Cape), Shoprite and Checkers Parys as well as Checkers Woodlands (Free State), Shoprite Rustenburg (North West), Shoprite Devland (Gauteng), Shoprite Kimberley and Kathu (Northern Cape) and Shoprite Oshakati, Otjiwarongo, Ongwediva and Tsumeb (Namibia).

And the Group’s largest installation, at its Basson distribution centre in Brackenfell, is a remarkable move to reduce the company’s impact on the environment. There are now enough solar panels at this distribution centre to cover an entire soccer field, and the 7 706 m2 of panels have a generating capacity of 1MW.

“Apart from these solar panel installations, we have also signed an agreement which will see the Group procure 434 000 MWh of renewable energy per year for the next seven years. We are the first retailer to close such a deal, which is arguably the first of its kind in Africa,” says Sanjeev Raghubir, Sustainability Manager for the Shoprite Group.

In a bid to find innovative ways to reduce electricity usage, the Group has also replaced flourescent lamps with energy-efficient LED lamps. The process cost R98.3 million, and in the four years since its inception has saved 83.8 million kWh of energy.

Shoprite recently scored an A- for its climate change and water security disclosures on the globally recognised CDP platform, which further underlines the retailer’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

Source......

​Energy minister Gwede Mantashe announced the preferred bidders for the government’s emergency risk mitigation IPP programme in March, which include three liquid natural gas powerships.

The Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) aims to alleviate South Africa’s electricity supply constraints and reduce the use of diesel-based generators.

Two-thirds of the new RMIPPP programme – 1,220MW of the 1,845MW – went to a single company, Karpowership SA.

The CSIR estimated that Karpowership SA, a unit of the Turkish Karadeniz Energy Group, can get as much as R218 billion from the 20-year deal.

This decision faced severe criticism from many energy experts because of its environmental impact, the lack of local gas resources, and the cost.

Many people argued that solar and wind power, in combination with battery storage, provide a better and more sustainable solution.

South Africa is blessed with a lot of sunshine and wind which make these renewable energy options an obvious choice.

While the programme includes solar PV, wind, and battery solutions, Karpowership SA is by far the biggest beneficiary.

Karpowership SA has responded to the local procurement criticism, saying at least 65% of its workforce will be South African and employed from local communities.

The company added that it will maintain all local and international environmental codes and protect South Africa’s oceans, ports, and sensitive environmental areas.

​Energy expert Chris Yelland delved into the powership procurement decision in an interview with Department of Mineral Resources and Energy DDG, Jacob Mbele, and IPP Office Acting COO, Maduna Ngobeni.

He also explores some of the issues relating to the selection of gas-to-power over wind, solar PV, and battery energy storage for two thirds of the generation capacity awarded.

Chris Yelland: Why are preferred bidders using solar PV technologies required to buy locally made solar PV panels, which may not available from local manufacturers in the quantities required by the market, and may come at a substantial price premium, while for the Karpowership projects, the ships, gas engines, floating fuel storage and regasification units (FSRUs) and the liquified natural gas (LNG) fuel (which in itself accounts for about 60% to 70% of the total cost) is allowed to be fully imported?

Read more......

​Gwede Mantashe, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, has announced the winning emergency power bidders and opened bid window 5 of the REIPPP programme.

The Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) is a direct response to fill the 2,000MW short-term electricity supply gap that South Africa’s Integrated Resources Plan (INRP2019) indicated between 2019 and 2022.

This risk mitigation programme is meant to fill the stated supply gap and reduce the use of expensive diesel-based peaking electrical generators in the medium to long term.

In his State of the National Address 2020 President Cyril Ramaphosa announced various measure the DMRE would need to implement to address the country’s energy shortages. Among these measures were the urgent need to:

Procure power that can be brought online in the shortest possible time;
Ease requirements and processes for generation for own use;
Issue Section 34 Determinations in line with the IRP2019; and
Enable municipalities in good financial standing to generate or buy their own power.
Mantashe pointed out that NERSA may process licence applications for self-generation facilities above 1MW, even if they are not in compliance with the IRP2019. “But, people who want to do self-generation for own use, you don’t need a licence and there is no limit. What triggers the licence requirement is connection to the grid, and trading your surplus,” said the Minister.

Emergency power bidders announced
In October, in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s directives on the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, the DMRE set a target of 13,814MW to be delivered from a mix of sources. This included the 2,000MW to address the immediate electricity supply gap.

The bid submissions for emergency power closed on 22 December 2020 and attracted a total of 28 bid responses with a potential contracted capacity of 5,117MW. “This clearly demonstrates a sustained private sector interest in participating in the South African energy landscape. The Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme succeeded in attracting project proposals featuring a variety of technology combinations,” said Mantashe.

The quantity and quality of the bid responses and potential megawatt of contracted capacity allowed for a competitive price evaluation: “All compliant bids were subjected to local and international benchmarking which is necessary to ensure that we receive Value for Money as required by the legislation.”

The evaluation process has resulted in the selection of eight Preferred Bids totalling 1,845MW and a further three Eligible Bids totalling 150MW. The three eligible bids are subject to value for money proposition in line with the provisions in the Request for Proposal. “It is important to note that these three bidders are within the 2,000MW capacity threshold in terms of the evaluation rankings, but their announcement can only be made following satisfactory value for money propositions,” said Mantashe.

The preferred bidders are:

ACWA Power Project DAP;
Karpowership SA Coega;
Karpowership SA Richards Bay;
Karpowership SA Saldanha Bay;
Mulilo Total Coega;
Mulilo Total Hydra Storage;
Oya Energy Hybrid Facility Umoyilanga Energy

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After the first Russia-Africa summit held in Sochi, authorities have been moving to build on this new chapter of Russia‘s relations with African countries. As set in the joint declaration, the two sides have outlined comprehensive goals and tasks for the further development of Russia-Africa cooperation in significant areas including science and technology.

Business interest in Africa is steadily increasing and Russian companies, among them Rosatom, are ready to work with African partners. It is largely acknowledged that energy (construction and repair of power generation facilities as well as in peaceful nuclear energy and the use of renewable energy sources) is an important area of the economic cooperation between Russia and Africa.

Ryan Collyer is the Regional Vice-President of Rosatom for Sub-Saharan Africa, and his key responsibilities include overseeing, implementing and managing all Russian nuclear projects in Sub-Sahara African region. In this insightful and wide-ranging interview with Kester Kenn Klomegah early April 2021, Ryan Collyer discusses efforts toward providing nuclear power, training of nuclear specialists, the main challenges and the future plans for Africa.

Even before the first Russia-Africa summit held in October 2019, several African countries have shown a keen interest in building nuclear power plants. What is the current situation (overview) moving from mere interest to realizing concrete results in Africa?

It is important to note that nuclear is not new to Africa and Africa is not new to nuclear. South Africa has successfully operated Safari 1 research reactor for over 55 years and Koeberg nuclear power plant for over three decades. At one point, South Africa was the second-largest exporter of the life-saving medical isotope, Molybdenum 99, in the world. There are also currently research reactors in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Ghana.

Another source is the cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Thanks to that, many countries like Benin, Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and others benefit from modern nuclear technologies applications in healthcare and agriculture. In Zambia, a cancer disease hospital received much-needed support, and now over 20,000 patients have been diagnosed and treated at the hospital. Benin’s soybean farmers could triple their income using the benefits of nuclear irradiation. In Tanzania, its island of Zanzibar became tsetse-free thanks to the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).

Many other African countries are already working on joining the atomic club in one form or another, whether it be the construction of a Nuclear Power Plant or a research reactor or the development of nuclear infrastructure or the training of professional personnel. In this undertaking, Russia is a trusted partner for many. We have signed intergovernmental agreements in the peaceful use of atomic energy with Algeria (2014), Ghana (2015), Egypt (2015), Ethiopia (2019), Republic of Congo (2019), Nigeria (2012, 2016), Rwanda (2018), South Africa (2004), Sudan (2017), Tunisia (2016), Uganda (2019) and Zambia (2016). Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were signed with Kenya in 2016 and Morocco in 2017
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The City of Cape Town welcomes the implementation of the feed-in tariff for all small-scale embedded generation systems (SSEG), for existing and new solar photovoltaic systems (PV). This now also includes a sweetener of 25c per kWh that customers with these power generators are able to receive when they feed their excess power into the electricity grid. The City’s feed-in tariff is one of the highest in the country to encourage the feed in of excess electricity into the City’s grid. The City believes the incentive is vital to boost the uptake of SSEGs and to help Cape Town move increasingly towards renewable energy.

The feed-in tariff, including the new additional 25c per kWh incentive will be valid until 30 June 2022.

‘We are moving in the right direction and towards the future the City is aiming to enable: one that has more diversity and security of supply from renewable, cleaner and more affordable energy sources.

‘The feed-in tariff works when customers are net consumers of electricity over a rolling 12-month period. They must therefore consume more electricity from the network than what they put back in over the course of a year. The feed-in tariff offsets their electricity bill and, while they will never receive money from the City, the excess power that is generated back into the City’s grid, will be used to balance out their month’s bill.

‘Importantly, to determine whether a system is grid-tied, meaning if it is connected to the grid and can feed in excess electricity, or whether a system is off-grid, meaning it is electrically completely isolated from the grid, all solar PV systems must be registered. Registration is also a safety and legal requirement and tells the City where a system is connected and confirms the quality of the installation. This reduces the risk of staff and contractors being electrocuted when working on the network,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy and Climate Change, Councillor Phindile Maxiti.

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​Anglo American announces a collaboration agreement to complete a feasibility study to develop a “hydrogen valley” anchored in the platinum group metals-rich Bushveld geological area in South Africa. Spearheaded by South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), the collaboration agreement also includes energy and services company ENGIE, the South African National Development Institute (SANEDI) and clean energy solutions provider Bambili Energy (Bambili).

The proposed hydrogen valley will stretch approximately 835 kilometres from Anglo American’s Mogalakwena platinum group metals (PGMs) mine near Mokopane in Limpopo province in the north of South Africa, along the industrial and commercial corridor to Johannesburg and to the south coast at Durban.

This collaboration follows the launch in 2020 of the South African Hydrogen Society Roadmap, aimed at integrating hydrogen into the economy by capitalising on the country’s PGMs resources and renewable energy potential to revitalise and decarbonise key industrial sectors. The study will be conducted by ENGIE Impact and will identify tangible opportunities to build hydrogen hubs and explore the potential for green hydrogen production and supply at scale.

Natascha Viljoen, CEO of Anglo American’s PGMs business, commented: “The transition to a low carbon world is an opportunity to drive the development of cleaner technologies, create new industries and employment, and improve people’s lives. Anglo American was an early supporter of the global potential for a hydrogen economy, recognising its role in enabling the shift to greener energy and cleaner transport. Our integrated approach includes investing in new technologies, supporting entrepreneurial projects and advocating for policy frameworks that enable a supportive long-term investment environment for hydrogen to deliver that potential.”

The regional PGMs industry will be central to such a hydrogen valley, with PGMs playing an important role both in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) electrolysis used to produce hydrogen at scale and in fuel cells themselves.

Anglo American is already investing in renewable hydrogen production technology at its Mogalakwena PGMs mine and in the development of hydrogen-powered fuel cell mine haul trucks – the world’s largest to run on hydrogen.

Dr Phil Mjwara, DSI Director-General, said: “The Department’s hydrogen valley partnership with Anglo American, Bambili Energy and ENGIE is an example of leveraging investments made in the Hydrogen South Africa Programme to create mechanisms for the uptake of publicly financed intellectual property. The hydrogen valley is among the projects that will be implemented in partnership with the private sector to support the Platinum Valley Initiative, which is aimed at supporting small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME) to take advantage of opportunities in the green economy in support of a just transition.”

The public-private partnership is aligned to the Government’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plans for South Africa, with science, technology and innovation playing a key role in supporting the country’s plans to revitalise its economy.

Sebastien Arbola, ENGIE Executive Vice President in charge of Thermal Generation and Energy Supply activities, said: “ENGIE is delighted to be part of the hydrogen valley study. We are keen to share our knowledge and expertise encompassing the entire hydrogen value chain to accelerate hydrogen solutions’ deployment in South Africa and beyond. We already have a demonstration project under way to supply the hydrogen for the world’s first hydrogen mining truck being developed by Anglo American at the Mogalakwena PGMs mine.

Read more.......

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South Africa is once more experiencing periodic power cuts. These typically take the form of scheduled supply interruptions, for two to four hours a day, whenever the country’s electricity system is overloaded. Such overloading currently happens on 40-50 days a year.

Eskom, the country’s power utility, recently admitted that such interruptions are likely to persist for as long as the next five years. This is because of the increased down-time of the rapidly ageing fleet of coal plants. But it is also due to delays in setting up new power plants.

The decreasing performance of the existing Eskom plants is evident in the steady decline of the energy availability factor. This is a measure of the percentage of total electricity generated compared to what would be achieved when every plant was functioning. The energy availability factor is currently at about 65%. This means that on average 35% of Eskom’s power plants are standing idle at any particular time due to faults or maintenance.

In his 2021 State of the Nation Address President Cyril Ramaphosa offered an action plan to develop additional power generation capacity in the short to medium term. While these interventions are indeed critical, they don’t go far enough to reach power stability.

Emergency power provision
The government has since announced eight successful bidders for gas, wind and solar projects under the 2,000 megawatt Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme. In theory, bidders are required to be able to generate electricity by August 2022. But given that solar and wind farms typically take two years to become operational, the stipulated roll-out time is too short. Most of these projects will only be supplying the grid in 2023.
The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme is a mechanism initiated 10 years ago under which private developers competitively bid for the rights to construct new electricity generating plants and then sell the electricity to Eskom at predetermined rates.
The programme successfully established South Africa’s renewable energy sector through three bid windows. But it stalled after 2015 when these new technologies began to threaten the interests of politically well connected interest groups in the coal and nuclear sectors. Projects for a fourth bid window finally received clearance in 2018 following the departure of former president Jacob Zuma, but enthusiasm for renewables has waned again under the current Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe.
The long awaited fifth round has just been announced after inexplicable delays. Prospective solar and wind farm developers have until August 2021 to submit bids for projects generating in total 1,600 MW of wind and 1,000 MW of solar capacity.
The successful bidders may be announced before the end of the year, but will need to demonstrate financial closure before starting to construct facilities. Renewable builds typically take about two years to complete. This means the round 5 projects are likely to come into operation only in 2024. That is two years later than set out by the 2019 national electricity plan.
The 2,600 MW added to the system in round 5 are with intermittent technologies. They only function when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. They will therefore only be adding, on average, slightly under 1,000 MW. That’s too little to overcome the existing power deficit.
Future procurement roundsThe last (2019) instalment of the South African Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity envisaged between 1,600 MW and 2,600 MW of renewable capacity added to the grid almost every year from 2022 to 2030. With the existing delay, the process to effect upcoming annual additions must be accelerated.
But an early catch-up is unlikely, because the minister only committed to one further renewables round, of the same scale, “within the next 12 months”. It’s therefore expected that future rounds will only happen annually, with no more that 2,600 MW being rolled out each time.
At that rate the wind and solar power contributions to South Africa’s electricity will remain below 10% of the national total for several more years. Renewables won’t make a decisive impact to alleviate the country’s power shortage for at least five years.
More gas, coal and nuclear?In addition to the emergency and new renewable rounds, Minister Mantashe has also announced that procurement for 1,500 MW of new coal plants and 3,000 MW of gas plants will begin soon.
In view of their role in global warming, sentiment against new coal plants is now so strong that investment in such projects is extremely unlikely. Nuclear plants are not seen favourably globally either because of their high building costs and a reputation for severe construction delays. Gas is viewed as more attractive, but is an expensive energy source that is mainly envisaged as a backup for emergency situations.
None of these technologies offer rapid solutions.
The small-scale optionIt’s not expected that sufficient alternative power sources will be operational until about 2026. Power cuts look set to stay for the coming years.
On the positive side, this is likely to act as a catalyst for growth in small to medium scale solar installations. These may take the form of domestic rooftop installations or even mini power plants on the roofs of shopping malls or adjacent to mines and industrial plants. Municipalities will also soon be able to set up their local power generation facilities.
So some may escape the power cuts earlier – but investment in such solutions is only for those who can afford it.

​Source........

Domestic natural gas and helium producer Renergen has obtained laboratory results on the helium concentrations from recently drilled wells P007 and MDR1, which has returned a helium concentration of 3.15%.
Wildcard well P007 returned a concentration of 4.38%.
Renergen on March 29 said that, since its March 11 announcement, the flow rate at MDR1 has increased by almost 90% to about 164 000 standard cubic feet a day, which is consistent with expectations as lost circulation drilling fluids introduced into the borehole dissipate and dry out.
“MDR1 is just 300 m away from MDR5 and 600 m from HDR1, which are both blowers with helium concentrations of about 2%, so getting a concentration of 3.15% was a very pleasant surprise,” CEO Stefano Marani commented.
He added that “it will be interesting to see when and if the helium concentration reduces and stabilises in line with the nearby wells, but a key take-away from this excellent result is that, despite the wells being so close, there does not appear to be any immediate interference between the wells which is a great result for our reserve update”.
The results are a “big leap” forward in corroborating Renergen’s geological modelling of the Virginia gas project, and the potential additional supply of over 40 kg of helium a day from a single well "is quite an outstanding result", the company notes. 

Source.......

Sporadic scheduled power cuts have been sprung on South Africans for over a decade and serve as a reminder that energy sources are finite, but they have helped the country to re-think its energy options.

Scheduled power cuts, termed “load shedding” by energy utility Eskom, come at great economic cost. In 2019 load shedding is estimated to have cost the South African economy between R59-billion and R118-billion, according to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

South Africa’s per capita emission of greenhouse gas is higher than the global average, but with plenty of sunlight and wind in some parts of the country, which provide alternatives to the burning of fossil fuels, this problem could be addressed while South Africa’s growing energy needs are met.

Tobias Bischof-Niemz, engineer and author of the book South Africa’s Energy Transition, told a Sanedi panel discussion on the sidelines of the Mining Indaba in 2019 that South Africa has a competitive advantage in renewable energy.


This is because South Africa has superb wind and solar resources and enough land on which to construct plants to harvest them. “These three things give South Africa a huge competitive advantage, which can never be taken away,” he said.

Solar and wind power costs have declined and, although initial costs are higher than for conventional energy sources, in the long run it has become the cheapest option for many countries in terms of new generation. It’s believed that most of the world’s energy will come from solar and wind by 2050. By that time only two coal power stations — Medupi and Kusile — are likely to still be operational in South Africa. This reality is also recognised in the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for South Africa’s future energy mix.

There is, however, an impression that wind and solar energy is unreliable, but Bischof-Niemz said it is more correct to use the term “variable”. He said: “Wind and solar power is not intermittent. It is variable, it changes over time, and these changes are predictable.”

Energy operators keep an eye on weather forecasts and bring in a flexible power supply such as gas during the times when the other resources are low.ere to edit.

These are the options for renewable energy sources:

Solar

This holds the most potential of all South Africa’s renewable energy sources, as the country receives a lot of sun. It is so rich in solar energy, that compared to countries in Europe, the same plant in South Africa can produce up to 20% more electricity for the same capital investment. This is according to a 2015 paper entitled Renewable Energy Gathers Steam in South Africa by Richard Walwyn and Alan Colin Brent, from Pretoria and Stellenbosch universities respectively.

How it works is that light and heat radiated from the sun is transformed into electricity through photovoltaics, or concentrated solar power.

A solar park has already been built near Kimberley in the Northern Cape, which is set to deliver 180 000 megawatts of solar power every year — enough to power up to 80 000 households.

Wind

This is also a potential major source of energy, especially in Cape Town, which has already built a number of wind farms due to the high wind velocity on the coast. South Africa ranks as having fair to reasonable wind resources on the international scale.

Wind power uses wind turbines which convert the wind into kinetic energy and mechanical power. The turbines have 50-metre-long blades attached to 80 metre-high shafts, on wind turbine farms.

The wind needs to be between 13-90 km/h for the turbines to produce power. These turbines can be offshore or on land, although offshore has stronger winds.

South Africa has 10 major wind power farms and 19 wind energy developments, with more than 600 wind turbines. One of the first farms was near Darling in the Western Cape, which has since 1997 been developed as a national demonstration project.

Hydroelectric power

Hydropower needs flowing water to be turned into energy, and most commonly hydroelectric dams are used for this. Water is then released from the dam, or the reservoir, and that generates electricity.

South Africa has seven hydroelectric power stations but due to a low annual rainfall rate of 500mm, the country’s hydroelectric potential is limited. The Eastern Cape is currently the best region for hydroelectric power.

The dams aren’t only used to generate power, but could also be put to use for irrigation and flood control, which helps to develop the economies around the dam.

This form of power isn’t as environmentally friendly as solar and wind power, especially when done on a large scale, as the large amounts of flowing water can damage the river ecology, and also take up a lot of land space.

South Africa is hoping that the Grand Inga Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo will help supply some of its energy needs, and this is also provided for in the Integrated Resource Plan.

When completed, the Grand Inga will be the largest hydro-electric power generating facility in the world, and will provide energy for much of the region. It will generate more than double the power of the current world record holder, the Three Gorges facility on the Yangtze River in China.

Inga would be a “run-of-the-river” hydroelectric project, which means it needs only a relatively small reservoir to back up the power of the river’s flow.

Even though some environmental pressure groups have cautioned that the project costs will be unaffordable and that other power options should be considered instead, DRC President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo has vowed to push the project forward while he is chair of the African Union.

Biomass

This is the largest renewable energy contributor in South Africa with 9-14% of the energy mix; there are already several biodiesel production facilities. According to the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries the concept of converting biomass to energy “is still at its infancy in South Africa” but holds promise for future sustainable development.

With 42-million hectares of natural woodlands and 1.35-million hectares of plantation there is a large potential for biomass production.

Biomass is generally regarded as any carbon-based material that comes from materials derived from plants and has the capacity to produce electricity, heat or liquid fuels.

It can be used as a direct energy source, such as for heat or cooking fuel, or it can be burned to generate electricity. It can also be used indirectly to produce ethanol, methanol and fuel that can be used for transport and cooking. Most biomass fuel is derived from wood, including tree stumps, forest residue, dead trees and wood chips, but animal and plant matter such as algae can also be used, and so can human and industrial waste.

Producing biofuel from waste could also help municipalities solve the problem of lack of suitable land for new landfills.

Geothermal energy

This is produced by using the heat from the Earth’s crust and converting it into energy. This heat comes from the original formation of the planet and from the radioactive decay of material. South Africa currently has no geothermal energy plants, but there are plans to implement projects. Research has shown that there is high geothermal potential in the country, and the relevant temperatures rank from medium to high on the global scale.

Read more.....