South Africa streamlines 203 MW of wind-solar-storage hybrid projects
The South African authorities awarded project agreements to two wind-solar-storage hybrid projects that were selected in a 2 GW tech-neutral tender held under the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP) in 2021.
Tackling load shedding in South Africa, one home at time
Load shedding has been an ongoing challenge to South Africans since 2007. The country currently experiences regular, planned power outages from the national grid, forcing the country’s citizens to look for alternative sources of energy and power. While many solar energy solutions providers in the region focus on commercial and industrial installations, Huawei partner Metrowatt concentrates on the residential sector.
Prospects of bringing together PV, storage and EV charging
In this pv magazine Webinar, we’ll hear about a new solution to combine PV, battery storage and EV charging in a single solution.
Weekend Read: Chaotic leadership leaves South Africans in the dark
Extensive load-shedding, lack of grid capacity, failing coal-fired power stations, lack of progress in clean power procurement, and even vandalism have prompted various South African government departments to take renewables generation into their own hands, seemingly without any overarching plan, as Bryan Groenendaal reports.
Mining company Harmony commissions 30 MW solar plants in South Africa
Construction of Phase 2 of the project is expected to commence in December 2023 and be completed in FY25, the company says. Once complete, this will add a further 137 MW.
South Africa launches loan guarantee scheme to back C&I solar
South Africa has launched a loan guarantee scheme to support commercial and industrial (C&I) solar projects, with the goal of deploying 1 GW of rooftop PV capacity.
South Africa closes in on 4.41 GW of rooftop solar capacity
News statistics from South African utility Eskom show that the country added 1.82 GW of new distributed-generation PV capacity in the first six months of this year. However, PV analyst Chris Ahlfedlt warns that the published numbers could also include some utility-scale projects.
South Africa moves forward with plans to split Eskom into separate entities
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) is moving forward with plans to split Eskom into three separate entities. NERSA has granted the National Transmission Company of South Africa the authority to function independently from Eskom, while South Africa’s National Treasury is working on a bill to address the troubled national utility’s ZAR 423 billion ($23 billion) debt burden.
The Hydrogen Stream: EU, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay to partner on hydrogen
The European Commission and the European Investment Bank have agreed to collaborate with Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on hydrogen, while Masdar, Mitsubishi and Inpex have said that they will use green hydrogen to produce e-methane and polypropylene.
South African government sets requirements for solar rebates
South African individuals and homeowners can now claim rebates of up to 25% of their solar panel costs, up to a maximum of ZAR 15,000 ($800). Recent changes to the solar rebate scheme specify that the panels must have a minimum output of 275 W. They can be installed as part of new or existing systems.
