Are floating solar farms better than land-based ones?
Who needs to take up so much land when the Earth is 70 per cent water…
Where land is scarce, floating solar farms make it possible to generate renewable energy without taking up space that might be needed for farming or other purposes. The cooling effect of the water allows the floating solar cells to run more efficiently than on land. Most floating solar farms are installed on artificial lakes or reservoirs. For example, the world’s largest floating solar farm, recently unveiled in China near the city of Huainan, sits on top of a former coal mining area that has been flooded. By covering the water’s surface, floating solar farms reduce evaporation, saving water.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane wants the government to allow billionaire Patrice Motsepe and other independent power producers (IPP) to contribute to the power grid.
The opposition leader was speaking to a small group of his party supporters outside Eskom's head offices in Megawatt Park, Sunninghill on Wednesday.
He said load shedding was the creation of an "ignorant" ANC government which did not want IPPs to function so that top Eskom officials could continue benefitting from the state-owned entity.
"During the national day of action, we will ensure that we communicate effectively that the ANC government has failed the people of South Africa and that we need a plan immediately that will ensure that we do not continue with load shedding. And if you want to keep the lights on, vote DA," Maimane said.

He stood on a ladder, which had been propped up against a pole, where he put up one of his party's posters.
Maimane added that South Africa was in a crisis and that load shedding was not helping the "grappling economy".
"Our view is that we must call upon all sectors of society and put together a plan to ensure that the grid is stabilised, and the immediate people to contact should be big energy producers, such as aluminium smelters."
He reiterated that Eskom should be broken into two entities - one for distribution and the other for generation. 
The DA leader said ultimately, the distribution entity should be privatised so that other power producers could compete with it.
This is in contrast to the plan announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address stating that Eskom will be split into three separate state entities.
"The ANC will not face up to its own stakeholders... and wants to protect its own alliances, rather than the citizens," he said.

The DA's second deputy federal chairperson, Natasha Mazzone, who joined Maimane, added that "95% of the power on SA's grid was produced by a mismanaged power utility which does not have a secured baseline".
"Motsepe has got companies and he is not the only one [who has an interest in IPPs]... and given the chance, as soon as next week, [they could] start adding their energy into the grid," said Mazzone.
There were allegations that the IPP procurement programme bidding process, which is currently under way, is questionable.
But Energy Minister Jeff Radebe has dismissed this and at a press briefing in February, he said "the tender process is fair, open and transparent".

Read more.....

The electricity crises in South Africa is real, watch the video....

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An independent macroeconomic study undertaken by Standard Bank has found that the first phase of Area 4 concession’s Rovuma liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, in Mozambique, has the potential to deliver 15.2-million tonnes of LNG a year.
The project is expected to attract between $27-billion and $32-billion in investment that will monetise 2.6-billion cubic feet a day of offshore LNG resources, adding between $15-billion and $18-billion a year to Mozambique’s gross domestic product.

The project will contribute to growing Mozambique into the fourth-largest LNG producer globally.

Mozambique will become a supplier of LNG to some of the world’s largest economies, such as China, which is deepening fuel-switching policies aimed at replacing coal with gas as an energy source, says Standard Bank.

The Area 4 concession will reach a final investment decision for the project’s first phase before the end of the year.

Standard Bank Southern Africa oil and gas head Paul Eardley-Taylor says Rovuma LNG will employ about 20 500 construction workers and 1 300 operational workers, while creating additional employment opportunities from various value chain and reinvestment activities associated with the support, supply and profits arising from the commercial operation of Rovuma LNG. 

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With load shedding here to stay for the foreseeable future, it’s back to basics for South Africans.
Call it load shedding, or rolling blackouts, the fact is it’s here to stay for the foreseeable future and South Africans are going to have to learn to live with it for a while yet.

The Citizen spoke to Lungile Mashele, an energy specialist at the Development Bank of South Africa, who also holds qualifications in economics, insolvency law, cost engineering and energy, about practical ways to minimise the effects.

“Have your work and home load shedding schedules handy. There’s no point in sitting in three-hour traffic to get to work to discover that there are no lights. Rather work from home until your office has lights,” advised Mashele.

“Keep your phone, power bank and torch charged and ready for a blackout. Invest in power-surge plugs. Continuous outages and related trips may damage your appliances.”

There is a growing conversation in the country over which is better: solar photo-voltaic power or fuel-driven generators.

“The preferred option is a complete retrofit of a home using gas to cook and for water heating, or solar water heating,” Mashele said.

“In addition to that, investing in solar PV with an inverter and battery storage will sustain you during periods of load shedding.”

Mashele explained an inverter converted the direct current produced by the panels to alternating current, and synchronised the power produced within the home with the Eskom grid.

“This option requires a rather large capital outlay. However, with the rising costs of electricity, it has a generally low payback period. A typical suburban household will require an investment of about R80,000. Depending on your consumption you can recover your costs within two to five years,” Mashele said.

“Generators present a cheaper alternative in terms of capital cost (about R10,000), but in the long run, the fuel cost renders this option far more expensive. Diesel generators can present a safety risk and are a noise nuisance not allowed by many body corporates.”

Load shedding survival tips

Plan your activities and travel around anticipated load shedding.
Be creative with dinners and activities to keep yourself and your family entertained.
Have braais and set up a tent for the kids with a campfire, especially during this holiday period.
Invest in rechargeable emergency LED lights. They are bright enough to light up the room for homework and household activities.
One can also buy an inexpensive two-burner gas stove at any major retailer and cook using gas.
Load shedding affects the ability of the water utility to pump water, so make sure you have water stored in the house.
It also means no fibre to the home, so make sure your phone has data or airtime.
Carry cash, as some retailers are unable to take card payments.

Source....

On 8 May South Africans won’t see a green party on the ballot paper. Instead, what they will see is political parties with lofty claims of bettering the South African environment and pushing the ‘Green Revolution’ for political gain.
Section 24 of the Constitution says that everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent pollution and ecological degradation; promote conservation; and secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.

Despite this, the EFF only has 18 points on environmental policies in its 170-page long manifesto. Similarly, the current ANC government’s manifesto makes fewer than 20 eco-friendly promises, including repositioning Eskom (again) and an investigation into the cost-benefit of installing solar panels in state buildings. 3

In comparison to the ANC and EFF, the DA has a far longer list of green policies and ideas included in its manifesto, although much of this includes examples of their successful implementation of green policies.

And while South Africans will have seen The Green Party of South Africa listed on ballots in the past, the party has struggled to garner any national support. Other than The Green Party, the United Democratic Front (UDM) has perhaps the most comprehensive policy on environmental affairs.

When speaking to Greenpeace, 350 Africa, Climate Reality and the Centre for Environmental Rights, all four environmental action groups reiterated that climate change is a reality that South Africans have to take seriously. The country’s environment is already being negatively impacted by the realities of global warming, and without a concrete commitment to environmental policies, South Africa may have little ‘green’ left to show the next generation.

Although US President Donald Trump has repeatedly tweeted about “clean coal”, environmentally-friendly mining is a myth. Despite this, the majority of political parties have committed to improving or expanding the current mining industry. 5

In South Africa in particular, mining has a long and controversial history.

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On 1st March 2019, the Select Committee on Finance invited Stakeholders and interested parties to submit written comments on the South African Carbon Tax Bill to be presented before the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) today, 12th March 2019. This was following the majority vote in Parliament in favour of the Bill on 19th February 2019. 
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During the public hearing today, Tuesday 12th of March, in the old assembly in Cape Town, there were several submissions from industry associations, the business community as well as non-profit organisations. According to EcoMetrix Africa consultant, Thapelo Tladi, who closely followed the proceedings, tough opposition from stakeholder affected by the tax remains persistent. Most of the submissions however reiterated concerns already raised during prior stakeholder consultations. Overall most of the comments dealt with the anticipated social and economic impacts of the tax and practical matters concerning its implementation, including but not limited to the following: 
• The impact of the tax on electricity prices and how this would eventually lead to increased cost of doing business in South Africa 
• The promulgation of the Customs and Excise Amendment Bill which is required for the Carbon Tax bill to take effect 
• The alignment of the Carbon Tax with the Carbon Budget system as part of the Post-2020 Mitigation System and other climate change policies still in draft form or not yet formulated 
• The state of readiness of government institutions to implement, develop and monitor the impact of the tax was questioned with regards to emissions baseline data and costs of administration of the tax to the tax payers, among others 
• Ringfencing of carbon tax revenue and recycling to environmental programmes 

National Treasury and the Department of Environmental Affairs present during the public hearing responded to the submissions affirming that the current Bill was the result of an extensive stakeholder consultation process and that during this process issues raised were already addressed, making concessions and changes while going along. Nevertheless, various comments were responded to, again, during the hearing today. 

​Following the hearing, the NCOP will draw up a report with recommendations to be discussed next week at a plenary session, after which a vote on the bill will be made. If the council passes the bill as is, it will be submitted to the president for assent. However, If the NCOP passes the bill subject to amendments or rejects the bill, it will be sent back to the National Assembly which must reconsider the Bill, taking into account any amendment proposed by the Council. In case of the latter, further delays with implementation of the bill should be anticipated. 
Thapelo Tladi, consultant at EcoMetrix Africa comments that “the submissions made today regarding the Carbon Tax by various parties who will be directly or indirectly affected by the environmental levy is reflective of how complex the process to develop this bill has been. By all accounts many of the issues raised today are not new but nonetheless remain pertinent issues that business, NGOs, labour and industry associations require clarity on. However, the extent to which the issues raised would necessitate an amendment of the Bill remains to be seen, which will invariably have implications on when the bill is officially signed into law". 
For further information, please contact 
Mr Henk Sa 
Partner at EcoMetrix Africa T +27 78 459 5748 E henk.sa@ecometrix.net 
Mr Lodewijk Nell 
Partner at EcoMetrix Africa T +27 78 704 2678 E lodewijk.nell@ecometrix.net 

With more electricity disruptions likely to occur in the next few years as state utility Eskom struggles to meet demand, South Africa should look at concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies as an alternative when coal power stations fail, Stellenbosch University has said.

The university cited Dr Toyosi Craig, a project manager with AEE Power in Johannesburg who recently received his doctorate in industrial engineering at Stellenbosch, as saying mass deployments of CSP would not only provide clean and supporting energy to the grid, but also boost the local manufacturing of CSP components, support job creation and create an avenue to export electricity and know-how to neighbouring countries.

Craig said the future of CSP in South Africa looked bleak as the government’s recent Integrated Resource Plan updates gave no allocation to new CSP plants beyond 2030. 

“This is worrying given that South Africa wants to generate 42 percent of its electricity from renewable energy technology sources by 2030," he said.

He said if CSP was promoted, job losses due to the adoption of renewable energy would be reduced as experts from other conventional technologies could transfer their skills "with little or no training".

South African unions have slammed the government for signing deals with independent power producers on behalf of Eskom, saying these will threaten jobs in the coal sector, which still accounts for the bulk of the country's electricity.

“The cost of developing CSP is reducing, the technology is therefore going to be the major energy source of the future, and the nations who do not recognise these may lose out," Craig said.