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The Gauteng High Court has reviewed and set aside an Eskom decision to exclude Babcock Ntuthuko Engineering from contracts to maintain and repair boiler pressure parts and high-pressure pipework across 15 power stations. The contracts are valued at R16.3-billion.

The contracts were awarded in October 2021 to Actom and Steinmuller Africa, with Babcock disqualified by Eskom for failing to submit a welding certificate, which the utility described as a “mandatory returnable for evaluation”.

In his November 17 judgment, Judge Anthony Millar found the disqualification of Babcock, which had been performing boiler repair and maintenance services at various Eskom power stations since 2003, to be irrational and unlawful.

Millar said the tender documentation, which was issued in 2018, was poorly drafted and ambiguous in using the words certificate and certification as synonyms.

Given this ambiguity, and the fact that Babcock had made referenced to its ISO 3834 certification in a tender covering letter, the judge ruled that Eskom should have afforded Babcock the opportunity to comply with the submission of the certificate in question.

Eskom’s failure to do so, was “procedurally unfair” and made the disqualification of Babcock from consideration in the award “both unlawful and irrational”.

The judge did not agree, however, with Babcock’s assertion that Eskom “improperly split” the contract between Actom and Steinmuller, noting Babcock’s own concession that, given the sheer volume work, it was always anticipated that the work would be divided amongst at least three bidders.

Millar ordered Eskom to conduct a fresh tender process within two months of the court order and for the closing date of the new tender to be no more than two months from the date of publication.

He also ordered that the tender be evaluated within two months of the closing date of the tender, that negotiations with the successful tenderers be concluded one month thereafter and that the award be made within a month of the conclusion of the negotiations.

In the meantime, the order declaring the contracts unlawful would be suspended “pending the finalisation of the fresh tender process”.

Ford South Africa remains “actively engaged” with government and its rail arm Transnet to enable vehicle and component transport to and from the Gqeberha port, says Ford Motor Company Africa president Neale Hill.

“Frustratingly so we seem to make progress, and then it all seems to retreat.

“The development of the southern rail corridor has not kept pace with the commitments and promises we have made, and kept, in terms of investment and expansion.”

Ford started production of the new Ranger bakkie at its Silverton plant this week, following a R16-billion investment, without any view of when the southern rail corridor would be able to handle traffic from the Pretoria facility.

The plant has increased its capacity to 200 000 units a year, with production expected to reach 150 000 units next year, with around 70% of this volume to be exported.

Ford also has an engine plant in Gqeberha, with those engines destined for the export market, as well as the Silverton plant.

Ford would also like to ferry imported components and vehicles via the southern rail corridor.

Hill says almost 100% of Ford South Africa’s vehicles are currently moved by truck.

“Looking at our export numbers, we should have roughly 79 trucks a day [by 2025] on the road transporting cars to Durban if we don’t fix that corridor.”

Hill says it is of utmost importance to be able to use rail transport in order for Ford’s Pretoria plant to remain globally competitive in terms of logistics costs.

He believes that the volumes are sufficient to encourage Transnet to make the investment necessary in infrastructure and rolling stock, especially when considering that other vehicle manufacturers in Gauteng, such as BMW and Nissan, could also make use of a southern rail corridor.

Volkswagen and Isuzu, which are respectively based in and near Gqeberha, could also use the line to move cargo north.

Ford wants the southern rail line to run from Gauteng straight into the Gqeberha port, which would mean a limited number of vehicle handlings.

Should Ford export via Durban, the vehicles will be off-loaded at Cato Ridge and trucked to the port, which creates a situation where the vehicles are handled multiple times.

This generates the opportunity for possible damage to the vehicles.

“Also, as a country we cannot rely solely on one port – it is not strategically sound,” says Hill. “Relying on Durban only makes us very vulnerable as a country.”

He notes that the southern line will need to double in capacity to handle the vehicle volumes, while there is also a shortage of wagons to ferry vehicles.

“Transnet says it doesn’t have the capital to do that, but how do we then move the economy forward?

“It could be a private-public partnership,” he adds.

“The point is that we desperately need infrastructure expansion if we want this country to move forward.”

Hill says Ford has investigated moving its export units through the Maputo harbour in neighbouring Mozambique. However, the problem is that this facility is a dollar-based port, which could leave the car maker vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations.

The prospect of rapid growth in solar photovoltaic (PV) installations across South Africa will create opportunities for the localisation of supply chains and for domestic manufacturing, a new study commissioned by the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) has confirmed.

However, the report also underlines the importance of economies of scale and stable and predictable demand for facilitating the investments needed for the manufacture of components such as PV modules, inverters, mounting structures and cables.

Unstable demand, precipitated by Eskom’s refusal to sign power purchase agreements with renewables projects procured in 2014, negatively affected South Africa’s nascent solar PV component manufacturing sector. That disruption, which was overcome only in 2018, resulted in company closures and disinvestments.

The new publication, written by Urban-Econ, Nikela and Blue Horizon, estimates that South Africa made up about 56% of the 10.3 GW of solar PV installed across African utility-scale plants, commercial, industrial agriculture and mining (C&IAM) sites and households by the end of 2021.

While modest in size relative to the 1 TW installed globally, the African market is expected to expand strongly over the coming two decades.

For South Africa, the report outlines scenarios for the installation of another 12 GW to 24 GW by 2030.

These installations would be across all three market segments, with the pace of growth depending largely on the intensity of loadshedding over the period and the emergence of supportive policy and incentives.

To facilitate the price-competitive localisation of PV modules, the report estimates that stable yearly demand of at least 2 GW from the utility market segment and a further 1 GW from the C&IAM and residential segments would be required.

Stable yearly demand of at least 1 GW is considered to be the minimum threshold for the competitive domestic production of inverters, solar glass and junction boxes.

However, the report also highlights that price-competitive manufacturing is not sufficient on its own, with certain market segments also requiring components to be certified as having been made to the highest and latest international standards.

“Until local capacities are further developed and selected products are manufactured in line with the requirements of the markets, the domestic market penetration of key components will remain limited.”

The report found the domestic solar PV value chain to be well develop already, with some 750 companies employing about 20 000 people.

However, upstream component supply is dominated by foreign brands.

Prospects for localisation are also being improve by global dynamics, including the significant demand growth, which together with supply chain disruptions and rising transport costs, have led to sharp price increases in 2002, with PV module prices in the European Union having increased by over 30% this year.

The report estimates that current production facilities are able to meet only half of future demand, strengthening business case for localisation.

The business case is being boosted further by efforts to ensure that solar PV industries are protected from exogenous shocks, such as supply chain disruptions.

The SAPVIA study has been produced ahead of the finalisation of the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan, which aims to identify opportunities to create industrial capacity to supply into the country’s emerging renewable-energy sector.

However, it also comes at a time when several independent power producers have raised concern about the ability of domestic manufacturers to support them in meeting the local-content commitments.

In an effort to unlock the much-delayed Bid Window Five of the renewable procurement process, government recently ease local content requirements set for PV modules.

The first new Ranger ­– Job 1 – has been assembled at Ford’s Silverton plant in Pretoria.

Production of the new-generation bakkie follows a R16-billion investment in the US car maker’s local operations and at its suppliers.

Ford now has three production hubs in its International Markets Group (IMG) producing the new Ranger – the Silverton plant and two plants in Thailand.

The company also has completely knockdown operations in Vietnam and Cambodia, with plants in the US and Argentina to begin production next year.

Capacity at the Silverton plant has been increased to 200 000 units a year, with 70% of production to be exported to markets such as Europe and Mexico, says Ford IMG operations director Andrea Cavallaro.

The Pretoria plant will, however, not realise its full production volume next year, he adds, as the single cab will only enter production around April.

Currently only the Volkswagen Amarok and Ranger double cabs are being produced at the plant.

Cavallaro is positive, however, that the facility should be able to reach 150 000 units in 2023, as “demand is pretty hot”.

He warns though that Europe is expected to face tough economic conditions next year, and that this will most likely dampen the automotive market there.

“That will have an impact on what we produce here, but we are still sketchy on what that impact will be – 10%? 20%?”

Ford will also have to weigh all of its global production options as Europe has unexpectedly pulled forward the introduction of Euro VII emission standards to 2025.

The much stricter standard has the potential to greatly impact South Africa’s new-vehicle exports to Europe, as Europe is the country’s single biggest export market.

“It is a bit of a strange announcement, and we’ll have to see what engineering is required to meet all of those conditions,” Cavallaro tells Engineering News Online.

“They have changed the conditions and brought it forward.”

He confirms that Ford is working on a Ranger plug-in hybrid, which will, from its inherent engineering, be able to meet more strict emission standards.

“Europe is really important for us,” says Cavallaro. “And with our production footprint globally we have the flexibility to move things around.”

He is quick, however, to calm any fears about South Africa’s production future.

“We have invested here and the last thing we would do is not use the capacity here.”

Cavallaro does, however, emphasise that Silverton will have to deliver a sustained quality assembly effort going forward, as will the operation’s component suppliers.

As for the continued loadshedding rounds the South African manufacturing sector is forced to face, Cavallaro says Ford’s manufacturing operations in Pretoria and Port Elizabeth appear to be cushioned from the effects of Stages 1 to 4, but not Stage 5 and onwards.

Therefore, Ford is steaming ahead with its plans to reach grid independency by 2025, with some serious planning to achieve this expected in the next 12 months.

A first phase of solar power, already implemented, will be followed by a second stage, which should address around 35% to 40% of Silverton’s energy needs, says Cavallaro.

Phase 2 will also include battery solutions, as the plant now runs 24 hours a day in a three-shift operation.

The next phases will look at other renewable sources, such as biogas.

New Plant

Ford’s revamped Silverton plant boasts an on-site stamping plant, a new, highly automated body shop, a Ford-owned and operated frame line, and refreshed vehicle assembly operations on the trim, chassis and final line.

The expanded plant added 1 200 new jobs for a third shift, in order to support increased production volumes. This takes the workforce at Ford South Africa to 5 500 employees.

Ford’s supplier network benefitted too, with around 10 000 jobs added across the value chain.

A total of 873 751 previous-generation Rangers were produced at the Silverton plant.

Out of these, nearly 603 000 units were exported to more than 100 global markets, with 271 00...

The City of Cape Town’s Metal Theft Unit, also known as the Copperheads, says it aims to double the amount of copper confiscated year-on-year.

The unit has already confiscated 2 489 kg of mixed copper and 252.5 m of cable this year.

In 2021, the unit retrieved 1 278 kg of mixed copper and 406.5 m of cable.

“This translates to millions of rands in infrastructure vandalised and destroyed,” says Safety and Security MMC JP Smith.

“Metal theft impacts not only services and infrastructure, but also the health of those residents in the areas where thieves burn their looted plasticised cabling to get at the wires.

“Doubling the amount of copper seized is not the only achievement of the unit,” adds Smith.

“From July to September this year they've done more than five times the number of operations, and inspected double the number of scrapyards or bucket shops compared to the same time last year.”

The current street value for copper is R120/kg, which means this year's confiscated haul is worth an estimated R298 680.

“Metal and cable theft takes place across the city and the number of complaints increased from 124 to 145 for this time period,” says Smith.

“Residents are tired of this crime which threatens their well-being. They realise that this money could be spent on improving basic services and is instead being used to replace stolen infrastructure such as manhole covers, fire hydrants and water meters.”

Some of the unit's recent successes were in August when they retrieved metal valued at R10 623 in street value.

In a second incident a repeat offender was found in possession of cut-up city drain covers weighing 238 kg.

While executing a search warrant for a storage facility in Philippi, officers also made a successful arrest and recovered around 540 kg of copper cable.

It seems unlikely that the supply-chain issues in the global automotive industry will be resolved in the next year, says Volkswagen passenger car brands global CEO and former Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) boss Thomas Schäfer.

He notes that the semi-conductor shortage is “still not over”, and that industry faces “incredible disruptions” in the global supply chain.

There are supply-chain choke points to and from China, as the country persists with lockdowns to execute a zero-Covid policy, with the logistics industry in Europe facing a shortage of truck drivers as many drivers from the Ukraine have been pulled into the war with Russia.

Schäfer says Volkswagen has seen cancelled shipments and plant shutdowns worldwide owing to strained supply chains, also in South Africa, despite a situation of “incredible demand”, with order books filled up “to next year”.

He notes that the German car maker receives supply reports on roughly 80 000 parts every week to determine which parts are available and which parts are in short supply, to see “if we can build cars, or not”.

Sometimes the manufacturer has to scramble to find an alternative supply source for a particular part, as a vehicle cannot be completed without 100% of its parts.

Schäfer says this is a situation unlike anything he has ever experienced before, with “everyone’s nerves a bit raw at the moment”.

He also expresses concern about a possible economic storm brewing in Europe as high inflation and rising interest rates do not bode well for the near term.

Europe is South Africa’s biggest new-vehicle export market.

VWSA produces the Polo and Polo Vivo for the local and export markets.

Schäfer spoke during a media conference on a recent visit to South Africa.

Statistics released by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) underlined how significantly loadshedding has intensified during 2022, which is the first year that the majority of the rotational cuts have been implemented at Stage 4, representing 4 000 MW of simultaneous cuts.

It is also the first year since 2019 that Stage 6 loadshedding was implemented, and for far longer periods (nearly ten times longer) than was the case three years ago.

The publication, released amid ongoing loadshedding by Eskom, shows that more rotational cuts were implemented in the three months from July to September than in any previous full year since the introduction of loadshedding by Eskom in 2007. It also confirms that there was more loadshedding in September alone than during 2020 as a whole.

Produced by Warrick Pierce and Monique Le Roux, the publication shows that 5 761 GWh of energy had been shed by the end of September, and 1 949 hours disrupted.

Loadshedding contributing the lion’s share of the 4 315 GWh of demand-side response implemented during the nine-month period, with the balance arising from interruptible contracts.

In 2021, previously South Africa’s worst-ever year for loadshedding, 2 521 GWh of energy was shed and 1 169 hours disrupted.

The intensification of loadshedding during the year led to the July 25 announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa of a series of interventions to address ongoing power cuts, including the establishment of a National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom).

Three priority levers were identified to close the prevailing supply/demand gap, namely: improving the performance of Eskom’s coal fleet; procuring additional capacity from the non-Eskom sources of supply and scaling up demand-side management.

To support the stabilisation for the system Necom is also targeting the procurement of a further 2 295 MW during the coming 12 months, which could arise from ongoing and emergency procurement programmes, as well as imports from the region.

Some 1 450 MW of demand reduction is being targeted through various interventions, including power alerts and other measures to change consumer behaviour.

Recent market reform allowing embedded generation plant, initially below 100 MW in size, but eventually of any size, is expected to unlock further private supply, as is an Eskom initiative to lease grid-ready land parcels to independent power producers and generation investments by municipalities.

Eskom, meanwhile, expects to add 2 200 MW over the coming year from interventions primarily at six coal stations, namely Tutuka, Kendal, Duvha, Majuba, Matla and Kusile.

The maintenance effort will seek to decrease unplanned outages, which have contributed to the fall in the fleet energy availability factor (EAF), while commissioning the remaining new-build units, while addressing defects.

The CSIR statistics confirmed that the EAF of the entire Eskom fleet continued to decline in 2022, with the average weekly EAF for the year to date having fallen to 59.1% from 61.7% in 2021 and 65% in 2020.

The CSIR attributes the decline in the EAF largely to the increase in unplanned outages experienced by Eskom and also suggests that there has been a “flattening out” of the EAF during the year.

The capacity factors of the coal and nuclear plants both fell to 52.4% during the first half of 2022, having been 55.7% and 53% respectively in the corresponding period of 2021.

The statistics analyse by the CSIR cover all utility-scale generation technologies, including coal, nuclear, hydro, solar photovoltaics (PV), onshore wind, concentrated solar power (CSP), pumped storage and diesel-fuelled open cycle gas turbines.

They show that during the first half of 2022, the total system demand was similar to the year before, but still 3 TWh (2.5%) below the pre-Covid lockdown levels of 2019.

Coal continued to dominate the South African energy mix, meeting more than 80%, or 113 TWh, of the total system load.

The contribution of wind, solar PV...

Built environment professionals organisation the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) has released its '2022 Infrastructure Report Card (IRC)', which gives the country's infrastructure an average rating of D, on a scale of A to E, with A being world-class infrastructure and E being failed or failing infrastructure.

The D rating means that the infrastructure is not coping with normal demand and is poorly maintained, with risks of any incidents having severe impacts on operations.

However, the report authors emphasise that: "[w]ith the notable exception of energy generation, South Africa's economic infrastructure remains in a satisfactory (or better) condition.

"However, social infrastructure continues to deteriorate," they state.

It is important to note that there is a difference between social and economic infrastructure, said SAICE 2022 IRC convenor and former SAICE president Sam Amod.

"If we do not invest enough in social infrastructure, but have good economic infrastructure, the wealthy get wealthier and inequality gets wider. Unless we invest in social infrastructure properly, people will not have the mobility to find jobs and keep jobs, and we will not keep them healthy and educated, as examples," he said during the launch of the document.

While the quality of national roads has improved dramatically, rated at B+ or future fit, up from a C rating previously, paved roads in urban areas have deteriorated from a C rating down to a rating of D, and other municipal paved roads have remained at a D- rating.

By contrast, airports, ports, oil and gas pipelines and heavy haul freight lines are rated at B or B-, albeit that heavy haul freight and airports deteriorated from A- to B-, and fishing harbours have improved from a C rating to B.

In terms of social infrastructure, public schools have remained at a rating of D, while public hospitals have deteriorated from a C rating to a D+ and clinics have dropped from a C- rating to a D rating.

Similarly, passenger rail lines have deteriorated from a C- to an E rating, which means the infrastructure is unfit for purpose and either has failed or is on the verge of failing.

"Infrastructure is at the centre of what we do socially and economically and has a direct impact on development. We often get asked why we produce this IRC. If we do not measure the quality of infrastructure, we cannot manage it, and if we do not have transparency, we will not have informed citizens able to make good decisions about what they want to do as citizens," said Amod.

Similarly, infrastructure delivery and management play an important role in addressing the triple challenges of inequality, unemployment and poverty, he noted.

"It is essential for SAICE to produce this IRC on a regular basis to encourage us to look after our infrastructure and to keep citizens informed about the status and trends of their infrastructure, and to highlight areas of excellence," SAICE IRC steering committee member Errol Kerst agreed.

At the inception of the IRC in 2006, South Africa's overall infrastructure rating was D+. With investment for the World Cup 2010, the rating improved to C- in the 2011 IRC. However, since this peak, the trend has been downwards, falling to D+ in 2017 and a D in 2022, said SAICE president Professor Marianne Vanderschuren.

"We need to be more aware of our infrastructure and the investment and maintenance or lack thereof, as, without infrastructure, the economy and society cannot function," she said.

Out of the 32 infrastructure subsectors rated in the 2022 IRC, there was only one A rating (for the Gautrain), eight B ratings and six C ratings. There were also 13 D ratings and four E ratings.

"This means more than 50% of the infrastructure is at risk of collapsing or has collapsed. We need to take action as soon as possible. We should have started," she highlighted.

South Africa needs engineers, technicians and technologists and needs to encourage young people to remain in the country....

The City of Cape Town council has approved a contract with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) that proposes boosting water supply to the metro by 40-million litres of drinking water a day from 2024/25.

This investment, which is estimated to cost more than R2.3-billion over 20 financial years once the contract is in effect, puts in action what the city says is its “commitment to prioritising water security for its residents in the face of future droughts”.

The city says it is “making every effort” to ensure that its new water programme, as outlined in the city's water strategy, which is currently being executed, remains on track to produce about 300-million litres more water a day by 2030.

The metro believes that the Berg River to Voëlvlei Augmentation Scheme (BRVAS) is an important component of this strategy to help ensure long-term water security to navigate future climate shocks and droughts.

The Western Cape Reconciliation Strategy Study, developed by DWS, identified the need to augment the Western Cape water supply system.

A detailed feasibility study found that BRVAS would be the most cost-effective solution, producing an additional roughly 63-million litres of water a day and increasing the yield by about 4.5% once completed.

The city's allocation from the scheme will be 40-million litres of water a day.

In order to secure an allocation of water from the scheme, the city had to conclude a 20-year water supply agreement with DWS.

“This long awaited water scheme will hopefully now proceed to the implementation phase as soon as practically possible,” says the city council.

This scheme will involve the pumped abstraction of water in the winter rainfall months from the Berg river to increase the yield of the Western Cape water supply system by around 23-million kilolitres a year; a low-level weir and pump station located at the Lorelei site on the Berg river; and a 6.3-km-long pipeline to deliver the water from the Berg river into the Voëlvlei dam.

The pipeline will be designed for reverse operation during summer, so that releases can be made from the Voëlvlei dam to the downstream municipal and agricultural users.

The scheme will also ensure the implementation of the ecological water requirements for the estuary.

“The city's climate change modelling indicates that over the next 30 years, the Western Cape water supply system's yield will decrease by 25%,” says acting Water and Sanitation MMC Siseko Mbandezi.

“For this reason, the city is very excited to be entering into this agreement with DWS because BRVAS is an important component of the city's water strategy.”

Mbandezi adds that Cape Town is in a water-scarce region and that the city has to investigate diverse water sources such as desalination, reuse and groundwater.

“Diversifying our water sources will reduce the city's current dependence on rain-fed dams as the main source of water.”

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has extended a €200-million loan to the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to support the delivery of 1 200 MW of distributed renewables generation by private investors.

The financing package, which is the largest-ever extended by the EIB to South Africa, was signed on Friday by EIB VP Ambroise Fayolle and DBSA CEO Patrick Dlamini on the side-lines of COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The funding will reportedly unlock €400-million, or R7.2-billion, of new private renewables projects across South Africa and contribute to DBSA’s Embedded Generation Investment Programme (EGIP), which is co-financed by the Green Climate Fund.

The terms of the funding were not immediately disclosed.

DBSA’s EGIP supports the development and upscaling of solar photovoltaic and wind embedded generation projects, developed by independent power producers.

The market has gained momentum following reforms allowing for projects below 100 MW to proceed without a licence and the South African government is in the process of updating the regulations further so as to eliminate the cap entirely as part of a series of initiatives unveiled on July 25 to tackle intensifying loadshedding.

Besides adding 1200 MW of distributed generating capacity the projects will avoid 3.6-million tonnes of carbon emissions once operational.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dlamini said the bank had a clear goal to increase investment in renewable energy, improve energy security and advance the country’s just energy transition.

“This new investment from the EIB in our Embedded Generation Investment Programme is an important contribution to South Africa’s resilient and sustainable growth,” Dlamini said, adding that it would complement the Just Energy Transition Partnership between South Africa and several developed countries as well as the European Union.

Confirming the package to be the largest-ever EIB investment in South Africa, Fayolle highlighted that it followed on from the bank’s past support for the DBSA, comprising 11 projects since 1995, including support for renewable energy and climate adaptation projects.

“EIB Global is pleased to build on three decades of partnership with DBSA to boost renewable energy generation which will contribute to energy security and a just transition in South Africa,” he said.

The financing would be available for solar photovoltaic and onshore wind energy generation, as well as potentially for energy efficiency projects promoted by the private sector.