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Dec
13
2023
By WENDELL ROELF
South Africa to seek bids for new nuclear power station

South Africa to seek bids for new nuclear power station

NEWS
SOUTH Africa will launch a bidding process for an extra 2,500 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power by March, as the country attempts to tackle its worst power outages on record. Businesses and households have been left without power for up to 10 hours on some days this year, hitting South Africa's economic output and prompting plans to boost generation. However, officials said on Tuesday that the new nuclear power procurement is not a short-term fix, as the first units are only expected to start operating in a decade. "We are excited about the prospects and we are confident about our…
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Nov
30
2023
By ABBEY MAKOE
SA receives power generating equipment from China

SA receives power generating equipment from China

NEWS
ELECTRICITY generation, and supply, have become South Africa’s perennial albatross around the neck. So much so, that our country is credited with the popularization of the term “load-shedding”. And so constant has this societal inconvenience been since 2007 that, to a large extent, load-shedding has come to be accepted as a normal occurrence in SA. At the beginning of the year, President Cyril Ramaphosa responded to the energy crisis by declaring a national state of disaster. Today might, however, just be the beginning of the end of load-shedding, thanks to the flourishing bilateral relations between Pretoria and Beijing. Minister in…
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Sep
29
2023
By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY
Wind Power Surge: South Africa leads the continent-wide trend

Wind Power Surge: South Africa leads the continent-wide trend

ENVIRONMENT
ELECTRICITY generated from wind farms is witnessing a surge in South Africa, with new data showing there are 34 operational wind farms in the country feeding more than 3400 MW to the national utility, Eskom, grid. MyBroadband, a South African ICT news platform, reports that the surge in volume and capacity is being driven primarily by Independent Power Producers, with only one of the 34 farms being state-owned. “The only Eskom-owned wind power station is the Sere Wind Farm near Vredendal in the Western Cape, which contributes roughly 105 MW,” MyBroadband reported. The progress made in wind energy is remarkable…
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Jul
03
2023
By The African Mirror
South Africa nearing end of daily power cuts, minister says

South Africa nearing end of daily power cuts, minister says

NEWS
SOUTH Africa's electricity minister said the country was closer to ending daily power cuts as warmer weather returns towards the end of the year, but declined to give a specific date. South Africa is on course to see its most blackout days in history this year with daily power cuts extending to almost 10 hours a day, affecting businesses and households in an economy already hobbled by high interest rates and inflation. The power cuts, called load-shedding locally, is expected to shave off 2 percentage points from GDP this year, the central bank said last month. Blackouts have eased in…
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May
27
2023
By KOPANO GUMBI and ALEXANDER WINNING
South African president transfers some power procurement functions to new minister

South African president transfers some power procurement functions to new minister

NEWS
SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa transferred some key power procurement functions to his electricity minister, taking them away from the energy minister who has been criticised for acting too slowly over the worst blackouts the country has experienced. Ramaphosa appointed Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to the newly created post of electricity minister in March to try to find a solution to the crippling outages. But the new minister's powers were not clearly delineated. Analysts say that even now that Ramokgopa has been given some of Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe's responsibilities, he will still be beholden to Mantashe to implement them. According…
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Apr
12
2023
By The African Mirror
‘SA should spend to end blackouts’

‘SA should spend to end blackouts’

NEWS
SOUTH Africa should not shy away from spending to fix the country's power crisis, its electricity minister told Reuters, ahead of a cabinet decision later this month on his proposals to end the worst power blackouts on record. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, appointed last month to the newly created role, was speaking in an interview less than two months after the National Treasury granted state utility Eskom 254 billion rand ($13.81 billion) of debt relief over the next three years. President Cyril Ramaphosa's government has made repeated attempts to improve power availability but failed to make progress. Ramokgopa's appointment is the latest effort to…
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Mar
07
2023
By The African Mirror
South Africa’s Ramaphosa adds electricity minister, allies ahead of 2024 election

South Africa’s Ramaphosa adds electricity minister, allies ahead of 2024 election

NEWS
BHARGAV ACHARYA and CARIEN DU PLESSIS SOUTH African President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed a new electricity minister in an effort to try to solve the worst power cuts on record in the country, and he added several other allies to his cabinet ahead of a general election next year. Cabinet changes had been widely expected since Ramaphosa was re-elected leader of the governing African National Congress (ANC) at a party leadership contest in December, paving the way for him to run for a second term in 2024. Ramaphosa's ANC is set to face its toughest electoral test yet in just over…
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