Full transparency

The decision to drawdown R150-billion from the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account (GFECRA) to reduce government borrowings and surging debt-servicing costs was the major feature... 

Cabinet and business praise Sasol and TFR for ‘first-of-its-kind’ partnership to repair 128 ammonia tankers

Both Cabinet and organised business have lauded the five-year public-private partnership agreement between Sasol and Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), under which the energy and chemicals group will... 

Business sees appointment of Phillips as key step in accelerating Transnet Recovery Plan

Organised business says the appointment of a permanent executive team at Transnet – led by CEO Michelle Phillips, who has been acting in the role since September and who has been with the utility... 

Amid disposals, AECI aligns internationalisation strategy to regions geared for rapid critical minerals growth

JSE-listed AECI, which is undergoing far-reaching restructuring to re-focus on its core mining and chemicals businesses and reduce debt, reports strong initial interest in the six noncore companies... 

Settling on funding solutions for expedited grid infrastructure set as a Just Energy Transition Investment Plan priority

Finalising funding solutions for the expedited expansion of South Africa’s electricity transmission grid has been identified as a key priority for the Just Energy Transition (JET) project... 

Sasol prioritising coal de-stoning investment as it seeks to allay fears over big Secunda output dip

Energy and chemicals group Sasol has moved to address investor concerns that its yearly production at Secunda will need to fall to only 6.7-million tons for it to meet its goal of reducing the... 

Ramokgopa says govt close to finalising structure for private grid financing

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says all the work being done by government on the financial structure to facilitate private investment into the country’s transmission infrastructure is... 

AMSA sees plausible pathway for salvaging longs unit, but ready to reverse closure deferral if urgent progress is not made

Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) has deferred the wind-down of its long-products business by six months amid widespread concern regarding the detrimental impact of the closure on... 

Nersa makes far-reaching changes to tariff rules, but implementation timing uncertain

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has approved far-reaching changes to the way electricity tariffs will be set in future, but it could still take some time before the rules are... 

Preferred bidder for Richards Bay bunker fuels terminal named

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has appointed FFS Tank Terminal as the preferred bidder to develop and operate a liquid bulk terminal specialising in bunker fuels on a brownfield site at... 

Crunch time

The consequences of policy failure in electricity are so obvious there is no need to ventilate them again. Not so for gas, however, given that they are only visible to those manufacturers that have... 

Eskom insists downward EAF slide has been ‘arrested’ amid Stage 4 loadshedding

Eskom insists the performance of its unreliable generation fleet is on an improving trajectory, releasing a graphic-heavy statement on February 22 disputing a recent report stating that its... 

Godongwana draws down R150bn from gold and forex account to reduce borrowings and debt-service costs

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana unveiled a far-reaching reform in relation to government’s treatment of the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account (GFECRA), which will result in... 

R4bn may be removed from Eskom debt-relief for failure to meet EFC sale deadline

The South African government is proposing to reduce its planned allocations to Eskom under a previously announced R254-billion debt-relief package by R2-billion a year for the 2023/24 and 2024/25... 

RFP for private transmission investment to be launched in July

The South African government will release a request for proposals (RFP) in the coming months seeking private sector investment into a pilot electricity grid infrastructure project. The National... 

No immediate plan to list Aveng in Australia, but future listing likely amid change in reporting currency to Aussie dollar

JSE-listed Aveng, which recently relocated is management epicentre to Australia and changed its reporting currency from South African rands to Australian dollars, has no immediate intention of... 

Eskom backs Necom-level consultation on use of electricity tokens to upscale virtual wheeling

Eskom Distribution MD Monde Bala has signalled the utility’s willingness to consider the integration of an Electricity Credit Token (ECT) financial instrument to accelerate the implementation of a... 

Impact of curtailment on BW7 under discussion

The Independent Power Producer Office (IPPO) reports that it is engaging with Eskom on its newly released curtailment addendum to the latest Generation Connection Capacity Assessment (GCCA 2025) –... 

SA green hydrogen developers urged to bid for €270m German grant funding

South African developers of mature green hydrogen or derivatives projects are potentially eligible for nonrefundable grant funding being extended under Germany’s €270-million Power-to-X (PtX)... 

Reform momentum

From an economic perspective, the most important signal provided by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address was that the reform agenda remains in place, and that it will be... 

Ramokgopa denies President’s pre-Stage 6 SoNA assertions caused embarrassment and insists loadshedding ‘corner has been turned’

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has move to defend the statement made by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on Thursday night that “the end of... 

Energy Vault, consortium enter licensing deal for gravity storage solution

Grid-scale energy storage solutions company Energy Vault has signed a licensing and royalty agreement with a South African consortium, established with the aim of deploying the NYSE-listed... 

Dedicated freight lanes and restricted truck operating hours mooted in draft plan to shift cargo back to rail

The Department of Transport (DoT) is canvasing as series of interventions aimed at attracting freight back to South Africa’s struggling rail system from road, which has emerged as the country’s... 

Independent transmission project office to be set up to procure new grid using ‘build, operate, transfer’ model

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa reports that government plans to establish an independent transmission project office, located either at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) or... 

Worrying outlier

The International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) most recent report on the electricity sector includes a troubling section on Africa’s recent underperformance in this regard. In the section, the authors... 

Ramaphosa moots ‘innovative investment models’ for grid as he reiterates support for power and logistics reform

President Cyril Ramaphosa used his final State of the Nation Address ahead of upcoming elections to reiterate government’s commitment to reforms in the country’s failing power and logistics... 

Energy Council welcomes IRP extension, calls for strong reform message in SoNA

Energy Council CEO James Mackay has welcomed the decision of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to extend the comment period for the draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2023 by a month... 

1 000 MW gas-to-power cap placed on Richards Bay for first gas procurement round

While ‘location agnostic’, South Africa’s inaugural 2 000 MW gas-to-power (GtP) procurement round is limiting the development of facilities in the City of uMhlathuze, where KwaZulu-Natal’s... 

Next battery sites being identified amid bidding at eight substations in North West province

Independent Power Producer Office head Bernard Magoro reports that work is under way to identify substation sites for the upcoming third Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer... 

Fast-growing ENGIE South Africa will consider grid investments under right conditions

Global independent power company ENGIE, which is prioritising the South African electricity market for significant organic and acquisitive growth, is also open to participating in grid investments... 

Grid unlocked

As the South African government seeks to re-establish some momentum behind the public procurement of new independent power producer (IPP) generation and storage, much focus will be on how bidders... 

South African green hydrogen developers urged to bid for €270m in German grant funding to close project ‘bankability gap’

South African developers of mature green hydrogen or derivatives projects are potentially eligible for non-refundable grant funding being extended under Germany’s €270-million Power-to-X (PtX)... 

SA’s draft plan signals renewables investments retreat as the rest of the world powers ahead

While South Africa’s latest draft electricity plan is signalling a pullback in renewables investments for the period to 2030 relative to the prevailing policy, the rest of the world is powering... 

Preferred bidder selected to build, operate Richards Bay LNG terminal

South Africa’s State-owned Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has announced that it has selected a public-private consortium as the preferred bidder to develop and operate a liquefied natural... 

Ramokgopa seeks to unlock private finance for 6 000 km of new grid in coming three years

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the current plan for rolling out grid infrastructure, particularly in the coming three years, is insufficient to end loadshedding and should, thus,... 

Big procurement year

The coming year is poised to be the most active ever for the public procurement of new electricity generation capacity. Besides shepherding the already-procured projects to financial close –... 

Transmission grid constraints cast shadow over South Africa’s seventh renewables bid window

South Africa’s grid constraints are continuing to cast a shadow over the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), the seventh bidding round for which was... 

Grid constraint likely to translate to a renewables price premium, Magoro warns

Independent Power Producer (IPP) Office head Bernard Magoro has signalled that the projects bid during the current seventh renewables procurement bid window could carry a price premium, as bidders... 

Sasol, Topsoe appoint CEO to lead new sustainable aviation fuels JV

Sasol and Topsoe have appointed Shell’s Jan Toschka as CEO of their recently established sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) JV. Toschka is described as a seasoned leader in the aviation fuels... 

Marokane to officially report for duty as Eskom CEO on March 1

Eskom has announced that Dan Marokane – who was named group CEO on December 8, almost a full year after André de Ruyter formally resigned – will assume office on March 1, 2024. Previously, Eskom...