Новости за 05.03.2024

BloombergNEF’s (BNEF’s) first-quarter global photovoltaic (PV) market outlook predicts that South Africa will be the tenth-largest PV market in the world this year, with the dominance of solar PV continuing to grow in the country. “As an industry body, we were proud to have contributed to this globally respected report. The statistics generated by our own solar PV dashboard informed this latest BloombergNEF report and in particular the section that dealt with the South African landscape,” highlights... Читать дальше...

Sustainable energy organisation the Renewable Energy Solutions for Africa Foundation (RES4Africa) unveiled its latest study - conducted with South African power utility Eskom and technical consulting and engineering company CESI - during a special edition of its virtual roundtable series titled Am-Powering Connexions. The fourteenth Am-Powering Connexions session focused on the ‘Generation Connection Capacity Assessment 2025 Addendum’ that was published in January.

Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga says State-owned Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) will invest R21.7-billion on airport infrastructure developments focused on refurbishments, improvements and statutory compliance over the next five years. The aim is to enhance asset availability, airport safety and improved passenger experience across the country's airports.

While the operating environment remains challenging, with macro-economic and geo-political uncertainty persisting, the medium- to long-term view of Sibanye-Stillwater remains largely unchanged on the fundamental outlook for the metals it produces, with the exception of nickel. The Johannesburg- and New York-listed green metals and gold mining company said it was confident that the price weakness of platinum group metals (PGMs) during 2023 did not signal a structural change in PGM fundamentals, such as that of the nickel market... Читать дальше...

South Africa’s food security is in the spotlight, with current weather conditions posing enough of a threat to farmers to cause a potential yield loss of their crops, following the heatwaves and sparse rainfall in February. Moreover, the recently announced petrol price increase also poses financial challenges for farmers and could considerably impact on the country’s food security.

Auditing firm PwC has released its ‘Building Public Trust through Tax Reporting’ publication, which outlines the importance of tax in the business operating environment and look at why tax is material to both internal and external stakeholders from a risk, opportunity and sustainability point of view. The publication also offers guidance on how to get the basics of good tax governance right to support tax transparency.

The number of hours of loadshedding in South Africa has been cut by 67% over the past three-and-a-half months, Energy Council of South Africa CEO James MacKay highlighted on Monday evening. He was participating in an event in Cape Town, hosted by UK innovation agency Innovate UK, and UK International Development, ahead of the Africa Energy Indaba. Loadshedding is the South African term for rotating scheduled power cuts, due to lack of generating capacity, imposed by national electricity utility Eskom. Читать дальше...

The National Cleaner Production Centre South Africa (NCPC-SA) launched an Industrial Symbiosis Programme (ISP) with the North West provincial government and local municipalities to enable sustainable waste disposal in that province. The programme has now been implemented in all nine provinces, with the Western Cape supported by non-profit organisation Green Cape.

Bid Window 8 of government’s Renewable Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme will be the last bid window under IRP 2019, says Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe. “We’ll then have issued all the bid windows provided for under IRP 2019.”

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) metropolitan municipality are continuing discussions around water supply challenges in the region. The city has a total average water supply volume of 1 686 097 kilolitres a day supplying a population of 5.87-million, said DWS water and sanitation services management deputy director-general Dr Risimati Mathye during a presentation at a meeting on Tuesday.

The Gauteng provincial government (GPG) has approached financial institutions to raise money required to honour its contractual obligations ahead of the March 31, 2024, target date to scrap the tolling of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP). Gauteng Finance MEC Jacob Mamabolo on Tuesday reiterated the province’s commitment to resolve the issue of e-tolls “once and for all”.

Parametric insurer African Risk Capacity is commemorating its tenth anniversary. The company was founded in 2014 with the sole mandate from the African Union heads of States to provide insurance and other risk transfer solutions to African countries.

Global technology group Hitachi Energy and BluVein – an innovator in dynamic charging technology – have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to accelerate the electrification of heavy haul mining fleets. Hitachi Energy's advanced power electronics and digital charging technologies allow BluVein's electric rail (e-rail) charging technology to deliver electricity safely and reliably to haul trucks of up to 400 t while transporting materials.

South Africa’s economy escaped a technical recession in the fourth quarter as fewer rotational power cuts helped energy-intensive industries including mining and manufacturing rebound. Gross domestic product expanded 0.1% in the three months through December, compared with a contraction of 0.2% in the prior quarter, Statistics South Africa said in a report released in the capital, Pretoria, on Tuesday. That undershot the 0.2% median estimate of 12 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

Gauteng’s Finance MEC Jacob Mamabolo on Tuesday tabled a provincial budget for Gauteng of R165.8-billion for the 2024/25 financial year, with a focus on fighting crime and boosting the township economy. This will increase to R171.5-billion in 2025/26 and to R176.8-billion in 2026/27, equating to the injection of R514.1-billion over the next three years into Gauteng’s economy.

Eskom insists it is on track to complete the repairs to the ducts in the west stack at the Kusile power station by December 2024, ahead of the March 31, 2025, deadline set by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) when it last year authorised the use of temporary stacks that bypass the key pollution control system. The west stack was rendered inoperable when Kusile’s Unit 1 flue duct collapsed because of an uncontrolled build-up of slurry on October 23, 2022. The failure... Читать дальше...

South African private sector activity expanded in February for the first time in six months as staffing and purchasing levels increased amid stronger confidence, a survey showed on Tuesday. The S&P Global South Africa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 50.8 in February from 49.2 in January. A reading above 50 shows expansion, which South Africa had not seen since last August.

Telecommunications giant MTN South Africa is advancing its partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Community Police Board to tackle vandalism and theft at its towers in a proof-of-concept project in Soweto. This followed the February announcement of the innovative collaboration aimed at supporting community policing forums (CPFs) to mitigate the escalating issue of network infrastructure theft and vandalism, with follow-up discussions at an event in March centred around strategies, technological... Читать дальше...

The Water Research Commission (WRC) is embarking on a roadshow in the Northern Cape to strengthen provincial water and sanitation resilience to climate change through research, development and innovation. The event is being held from March 12 to 13, as part of National Water Week, in partnership with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), the South African Local Government Association (Salga), Sol Plaatje University (SPU) and Frances Baard district municipality.

Africa will be $2.5-trillion short of the finance it needs to cope with climate change by 2030, a UN official said on Monday, adding that the continent has contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions while seeing some of the worst impacts. Africa attracts only 2% of global investments in clean energy but needs $2.8-trillion of investment in the sector by 2030, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa chief economist Hanan Morsy told a conference in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, warning against the consequences of under-funding.

A joint task team established by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) have identified immediate short- and long-term interventions with clear outcomes to manage the clearing of alien invasive plants at the Vaal river. Last month, Rand Water started an integrated programme, including physical removal, chemical control and biological control, to clear the water lettuce currently overwhelming the Vaal Barrage.