South African renewables jobs should be in coal regions
A study into the potential pitfalls of the shift to clean power in the nation’s coal-dependent energy mix, pointed out almost all of South Africa’s solar farms are far to the south and west of the coal regions likely to bear the brunt of job losses in a country which already has 29% unemployment.
South Africa to tender 6.4 GW of solar and wind, 513 MW of storage and 4.5 GW of conventional generation
The country’s regulator has approved a government plan to tender for 11.81 GW of power generation capacity on top of the 2 GW tender opened last month.
South Africa kicks off 2 GW tech-neutral tender to improve power supply
The South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) is requesting proposals for the Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP). The tender is intended to procure 2 GW of capacity in response to the chronic short-term electricity supply gap that is affecting the country and its mining sector. Renewables are also entitled to compete.
South African chemicals producer seeks bids for 20 MW of PV
Sasol plans to power its operations in the municipalities of Secunda and Sasolburg with two 10 MW solar projects. The successful bidders with sell power to the factories under power purchase agreements.
South African utility Eskom launches tender for 80 MW/320 MWh of storage
The South African national power company is planning to deploy large scale energy storage capacity at the Skaapvlei substation. The facility will help manage the intermittent energy generated by a 100 MW Eskom wind farm.
ArcelorMittal seeks solar PPAs for 150 MW in South Africa
The steel manufacturer aims to sign power purchase agreements for six operational sites in Vanderbijlpark, Newcastle, Vereeniging, Pretoria, Thabazimbi and Saldanha.
Mauritian fund invests $3 million in P2P solar specialist Sun Exchange
Sun Exchange has closed a $4 million Series-A funding round by obtaining a $3 million investment from ARPF, a Mauritian private equity fund. The peer-to-peer solar leasing platform said it will use the funds to help its members deploy solar solutions across sub-Saharan Africa.
Covid-19 weekly round-up: US job losses raise concern but France and China continued to add new solar
Cell supply shortages could kick-start manufacturing activity in India, EV car sales are braced for a fall while still gaining market share and a new date has been set for the world’s biggest solar trade show.
South African chemicals producer seeks to procure 600 MW of renewables
Sasol has launched a request for information process to supply its South African operations with renewable energy.
Eskom launches tender to ‘repurpose’ coal plants with low-carbon growth tech
The debt-saddled South African utility has issued an expression of interest to seek proposals on how to refurbish three fossil fuel power plants to be decommissioned in the current decade. Eskom said that all of the proposed solutions should be at the tech-readiness level.
