. Eleven years after construction started on Eskom’s massive 4800 MW Kusile coal-fired power station in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, not one of its six 800 MW generator units is currently delivering power into the grid. Construction started at Kusile in 2008, and all six generation units were planned to be in commercial service by […]
Our country’s climate is blessed to have some of the best sunlight in the world. With the current energy situation and the ever-increasing electricity costs, we are forced to evaluate our energy consumption and implement more efficient and cost-effective solutions. There are two common ways to collect energy from the sun. One is through a […]
Carbon tax came into effect on 1 June 2019 as part of the government’s drive to reduce carbon emissions and comply with its promises and commitments on climate change. Phase 1 of the tax sees carbon emissions taxed at a rate of R120/t of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), and with the various allowances considered, the […]
We should be grateful we’re having a mild winter. Without the power received from the independently owned and operated renewable energy-sourced power stations we’d be in the dark – or facing serious loadshedding events right now. Since we are not experiencing loadshedding at present, some may believe that Eskom’s power stations are on the mend […]
There is a natural gas pipeline network in most of the industrial areas in Gauteng, but why are so many of the large energy users still not making use of gas? Especially when the global drive is to reduce carbon emissions and move away from coal. In the United States, natural gas equates to about […]
The advent of renewables, new storage technologies present Africa’s utilities with an opportunity to increase capacity and efficiency while re-kindling their appeal to investors. There has been a clear and rapid evolution in Africa’s energy and energy infrastructure landscape over the last decade. While much of this new technology has challenged the traditional dominance and […]
Over the last few years we have seen a move from utility-scale renewable energy procurement, through the REIPPP programme, to a more distributed approach which favours small-scale solar PV. This allows for more participation by South African developers and start-ups and offers opportunities for skills development, entrepreneurship and job creation. Loosely speaking, any electricity generation […]
. A new study report on the air quality and health effects of air pollution by Eskom, Sasol Synfuels and Natref in and around South Africa’s Highveld Priority Area (HPA) provides shocking evidence of the harmful effects caused by these organisations to the environment and to human health. The study report by Dr Gray is […]
As Eskom struggles with excessive debt, its ability to extend grid-power to rural communities remains limited. However, the country could take advantage of the power utility’s challenge by increasing the use of modern technology to turn sunshine into income for residents and businesses in these rural areas. The way energy is produced and distributed is […]
As South Africans face another winter season, many people question whether the country will face load-shedding again. This follows the events in March this year when Eskom announced that it had been forced to implement Stage 4 load shedding. This amounted to as much as 6000 MW of a total estimated installed capacity of 51 […]
