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The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has published a list of the most recent 35 renewables projects – including a 100 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project in the Northern Cape – to be registered following a recent market reform allowing for large-scale distributed generation projects to proceed without a licence.

The projects were officially registered during the August 22 meeting of the Nersa regulator executive committee, which also registered the first two 100 MW solar PV projects in May and subsequently registered 16 distributed-generation projects in June, with a combined capacity of 211 MW.

Nersa expects to consider the next batch of registrations during a meeting scheduled for September 5.

The August registrations increased to eight the number of projects that have now been registered with a capacity greater then 10 MW and Nersa says the total installed capacity of such projects currently stands at 599.6 MW.

As with previous registrations, most projects are small, but the list includes some notable large projects, including:

the 100 MW Postmasburg Solar PV Energy Facility 2, in the Northern Cape;

the 75 MW Buffels Solar project, in the North West; and

the 19.9 MW Mzimkhulu Hydroelectric project, in KwaZulu-Natal.

The other registrations confirmed by Nersa on August 22, were:

two 0.330 MW apiece Bamco Koelkamers solar PV projects, in the Western Cape;

the 0.440 MW Capital Propfund 2 solar PV, in Gauteng;

the 0.150 MW Capital Propfund 3 solar PV project, in Gauteng;

the 0.150 MW EC Maskell Boerdery solar PV, in the Eastern Cape;

the 0.150 MW Eversolar solar PV project, in Mpumalanga;

the 0.315 MW Jowilita Farms solar PV project, in the Northern Cape;

the 0.325 MW Just Refrigeration solar PV project, in Mpumalanga;

the 0.550 MW Martin and Martin solar PV project, in the Western Cape;

the 0.110 MW and 0.220 MW apiece solar PV projects registered by Number Two Piggeries, in the Eastern Cape;

four solar PV projects in the Northern Cape of 0.331 MW, 0.662 MW, 0.822 MW and 0.910 MW apiece registered by Paul de Villiers;

the 0.112 MW Pietlam solar PV project in the Eastern Cape;

solar PV projects of 0.450 MW and a 0.220 MW apiece registered by Redefine Properties in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng respectively;

a 0.200 MW solar PV project registered by RZT Zelpy 4600, in KwaZulu-Natal;

the 0.496 MW SolarAfrica Energy sola PV project, in the North West;

the 0.133 MW Suncrest Estate solar PV project, in the Western Cape;

the 0.150 MW Swartrandsdam solar PV project, in the Free State;

the 0.594 MW and 0.273 MW solar PV projects registered by Terradew Three, in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal respectively;

the 0.300 MW Unlocked 18 solar PV project, in Gauteng;

the 0.220 Widney Transport Components solar PV project, in Gauteng;

the 0.233 MW Winterton Shopping Complex solar PV project, in KwaZulu-Natal;

the 1.100 MW Zandspruit Value Centre Solar PV project, in Gauteng;

the 2.600 MW hydro project registered by MBB Consulting Services, in Mpumalanga; and

three 0.152 MW apiece solar PV projects, two in KwaZulu-Natal and one in Gauteng, registered by Thebe Solar Energy.

The number of project registrations is expected to continue to climb following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s July 25 announcement of the lifting of the licence-exemption cap on distributed generation projects as part of a series of interventions to tackle intensifying load-shedding.

Prior to the announcement a 100 MW cap had been in place, following a June 2021 reform that raised the threshold from 1 MW to 100 MW.

The proposed policy to ban the export of waste, scrap and semifinished metal products for a period of six months is necessary to immediately reduce the ability of criminal syndicates to monetise stolen metals, while registration systems are put in place to hamper their ability to mask stolen metals within legitimate metal trade, Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel has said.

During a presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry on August 23, he provided an overview of the inputs that were considered in the compilation of the proposed policy and answered committee members' questions about the costs and relevance of the policy.

"The ban is temporary. In this period, the domestic market will provide some market for product. When the [regulatory and registration] system is fully developed, then such scrap that has been legitimately and properly obtained and can be explained can be exported," Patel assured committee members.

The new policy regime is intended to challenge the criminal syndicates' ability to operate, sell and export stolen metal, he emphasised.

The temporary prohibition is intended to assist with the creation of a permitting system to realise a material reduction in theft of metal from the country's infrastructure, as it will eliminate or reduce one of the avenues used for monetising stolen metal.

By reducing demand, South Africa can reduce the incentive to steal metal, he said.

"The intervention will divert significant volumes of scrap into the local market, which will then likely lead to lower scrap metal prices. In the local market, the supply will increase but demand will remain constant, leading to a chilling effect and disincentivise theft.

"The export prohibition will not have a significant negative impact on legitimate local upstream collectors and recyclers, as the volumes of waste and scrap that are currently legally exported can be sold locally."

Additionally, the enhanced regulation of domestic metal trading and enforcement will bolster the country's fight against metal theft because anyone found in possession of waste, scrap or semifinished metal products will be required to present a registration certificate.

This will greatly reduce the ability to buy stolen goods and wash them into the value chain, Patel said.

Theft of scrap metal, particularly copper cables, imposes costs on society far beyond the value of the material taken. For example, the economic damage of copper theft alone has been estimated at more than R46-billion a year. This was the finding of research commissioned by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) and undertaken by independent research team from Genesis Analytics.

"This regime is intended and designed to undermine criminal syndicates and networks that threaten South Africa's vital economic infrastructure while, simultaneously, limiting the extent to which the new arrangements impose costs on the metal value chain," he said.

The proposed policy, which was gazetted on August 5 for public comment, follows many other measures to reduce the ability of criminal networks to monetise stolen metal, including export restrictions, the introduction of a price preference system for export, the introduction of an export tax and the use of legal provisions to provide limited policing powers to State-owned enterprise officials, among others, Patel highlighted.

"These measures have been broadly successful in achieving their policy goals. However, the advice we have received from State-owned enterprises, the South African Police Service, research organisations and business organisations in drafting the policy are that these measures are insufficient to disrupt criminal syndicates and additional measures are required.

"We have seen the extraordinary measures put in place by State-owned enterprises to address the security part of the challenge, including the use of drones, private security, more fencing and camera networks, but the...

Energy and chemicals group Sasol expects to invest the bulk of the R15-billion to R25-billion it is budgeting to facilitate a 30% reduction in its carbon emissions by 2030 between 2025 and 2027, having spent only modest capital on such projects to date.

The expenditure forms part of the JSE-listed group’s yearly ‘maintain and transform’ capital budget, which is expected to rise to between R26-billion and R27-billion in its 2023 financial year.

Sasol will invest between R500-million and R1-billion during the year on projects designed to improve its environmental performance ahead of a scale-up in such expenditure from 2025 onwards.

The bulk of the ‘transform capital’ will be directed towards the introduction of process changes particularly at the group’s Secunda complex, which is regarded as one of the largest single-site emitters of carbon dioxide globally.

These include technology changes allowing for the displacement of coal with gas, the possible briquetting of coal fines to reduce its use of mined coal and the ramping down of coal-fired boilers as it begins procuring renewable energy from independent power producers (IPPs).

The company says it has agreed key terms with IPPs for more than 600 MW of wind and solar to be introduced before 2025 and is planning to procure 1 200 MW by 2030.

CEO Fleetwood Grobler reports that Sasol is working on future gas supply options, including the possible integration of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) through Maputo, in Mozambique.

It has, however, been able to extend the gas supply “plateau” from Mozambique by two years to 2028, following infill well drilling.

The prospect of a “gas cliff” has come into focus again recently after Sasol Gas announced, and later delayed, the implementation of a 96% hike in the price of pipeline gas from August 1. Had the increase been introduced, the price of gas charged to South African customers would have increased from R68.39/GJ to R133.34/GJ.

The Industrial Gas Users Association of Southern Africa warned that its members were not only facing the prospect of an “untenable” hike in prices, but also the prospect of gas shortages as production from Sasol’s Mozambican wells tapered.

Sasol says drilling is under way in a bid to find more gas and that it is now moving to explore acreage adjacent to its existing production wells.

The company is also in advanced talks to finalise a term sheet for 40 to 60 petajoules (PJ) of LNG as additional incremental gas supply toward the latter end of the decade over and above its current 160 PJ requirement.

GREEN HYDROGEN & NATREF REPURPOSING

In parallel, the group intends moving ahead with an initial green hydrogen project at Sasolburg, in the Free State, where it will convert an existing 6 t/d electrolyser to operate on renewable electricity.

The final investment decision for the green hydrogen project has been made with the aim of producing the first green hydrogen volumes towards the end of 2023. Details of the project will be announced once Sasol’s investment partner, the Industrial Development Corporation, also approves the investment.

The group is also studying larger green hydrogen prospects that are likely to proceed only after 2030, including the possible creation of a green hydrogen hub at Boegoebaai, in the Northern Cape.

Grobler expresses particular enthusiasm for using green hydrogen to produce a “drop in” sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which will be produced using the group’s existing Fischer-Tropsch assets.

“SAF remains one of the most promising pathways for the hard-to-abate aviation sector to decarbonise in future.

“The SAF drop-in offering is an attractive aviation-fuel solution and the market is expected to grow massively in the years to come,” Grobler says, revealing that it is currently refining its “go-to-market” strategy in collaboration with others.

He has also announced that a low capital solution has been found to produce Cleaner Fuels 2-compliant diesel at the Natref refinery, in the Fr...

The IPP Office has announced a new timetable for the upscaled sixth bid window (BW6) of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) through which government will be seeking to procure a whopping 5 200 MW of new wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity during a single bidding round.

Proceeding with the full allocation hinges, however, on the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) securing the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa’s) concurrence with a new Ministerial determination expanding the procurement envelope for solar PV beyond that catered for under the existing Ministerial determinations.

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has already indicated that he intends Gazetting a new determination under the Electricity Regulation Act to absorb the full renewables allocation included in the Integrated Resource Plan of 2019 (IRP 2019), but which is not yet included in the determinations with which Nersa has concurred.

The IRP 2019 includes 14 400 MW of wind generation to be introduced by 2030 and 6 000 MW of solar PV, but the Section 34 determination published in 2020 is for only 6 800 MW of both wind and solar PV.

IPP Office head Bernard Magoro tells Engineering News that a new determination has been submitted to the regulator to “mop up” the remaining allocations, as the solar PV allocation under the current determination has been “exhausted”.

“If it's approved on time, it will allow us to add the additional 1 000 MW of PV,” Magoro explains. If not, the IPP Office will have to decide whether to delay the bid submission date again or proceed with 4 200 MW instead of 5 200 MW.

Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s July 25 announcement of the Energy Action Plan, which includes the enlarged BW6 allocation, the DMRE shifted the bid submission deadline from August 11 to September 22.

The IPP Office is also awaiting confirmation from Eskom, which remains the single buyer of any electricity procured under the REIPPPP, that it is able to buy the electricity arising from the enlarged bid window, with a board decision on the matter said to be pending.

Nevertheless, Magoro reports that the IPP Office is proceeding on the basis that both approvals will be secured, particularly given the prominence that the expansion of the BW6 allocation received in Ramaphosa’s announcement to tackle growth- and confidence-sapping power cuts.

The size of the bidding round is significant, with the IPP Office having procured a total of 6 323 MW since the inception for the REIPPPP in 2011, a period that admittedly includes a seven-year disruption, from 2014 to 2021, precipitated by a refusal of the previous Eskom leadership to conclude new power purchase agreements.

Eskom’s leadership at the time claimed that the utility had returned to a surplus supply position, while the current supply/demand gap is estimated to be between 4 000 MW and 6 000 MW.

Having already postponed the bid submission deadline to accommodate the larger allocation, the IPP Office has now also confirmed September 15 as the last date for compulsory bid registration, including payment of the bid registration fee.

Magoro tells Engineering News that the announcement of preferred bidders is scheduled to take place about two months after the September 22 bid submission deadline, with the IPP Office confident that its transaction advisers have the capacity to conduct their evaluations within that timeframe.

Commercial close for BW6 will follow about six months later, with the long stop date for financial close set for a month after that milestone.

The IPP projects that achieve financial close will have a maximum of 24 months thereafter to complete construction and to enter commercial operation.

Magoro is confident that there is still market appetite for BW6, despite the opportunity that had been created by the lifting of the 100 MW licence-exemption cap for distributed projects linked to mines, farms and factories,...

Electricity utility Eskom reported on Friday that Unit 2 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, which was returned to service earlier this month following an extended outage, was shut down after one of the control rods developed a mechanical problem.

The utility indicated that repairs could take up to five days and that the probability of load-shedding had, thus, increased.

“During routine testing of the control rod mechanism on the unit, one of the control rods developed a mechanical problem.

“In order to rectify this, the unit has been safely shut down in accordance with safe nuclear operating procedure and the nuclear regulations.

“It has not yet been determined how long the repairs will take, but it could be up to five days, whereafter the unit will ramp up over three days,” Eskom said in a statement.

The 920-MW unit was shut for refuelling and extended maintenance on January 18 and was initially scheduled to return to service in June.

It was eventually returned to service at 20:24 on Sunday, August 7.

During the extended maintenance, three steam generators were also meant to be replaced, but the project was deferred to August 2023 following an assessment, conducted together with Framatome, which concluded that Eskom was not ready to implement the project.

The deferral did not lead to any shortening in the duration of the outage, despite the fact that it accounted for one stage of load-shedding every time the utility resorted to rotational power cuts since January.

South Africa has since endured is worst-ever period of rotational power cuts, with Stage 6 having even been declared at times during June and July when the utility experienced a wildcat strike across several of its coal stations.

Eskom resorted to load-shedding again this week amid a cold snap, but suspended the cuts at midnight on August 19..

However, it warned that load-shedding might be implemented at short notice during 16:00 to 24:00 on Friday night, and during the evening peaks throughout the weekend.

“We currently have 4 526 MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 574 MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns,” Eskom said in a statement.

Creamer Media's Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about plans by South African coal miners Seriti Resources, Exxaro Resources and Thungela Resources in the renewables space and how that positions them for the future. This is all happening at a time when the coal market is experiencing significant demand growth as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the impact thereof on the global energy sector.

News about extreme weather events has become a monthly occurrence, highlighting the importance of embedding some measure of infrastructure and societal resilience in the evolving climate.

Damage to the built and natural environments disrupts socioeconomic activity, but the general public, naturally, tends to focus on visibly dramatic and/or traumatic events, often ignoring the more understated impacts of climate change.

For example, while most people know about the wildfires that affected Europe last month, far fewer are aware that France had trouble cooling some of its nuclear reactors because the record-breaking heatwave meant that the rivers were too warm.

As reported by news agency Reuters on July 15, four of the nuclear power plants operated by Electricite de France had to impose production restrictions because of higher-than-expected water temperatures in and along the Rhône and Garonne rivers.

Reuters also reported the potential of further impacts on electricity production, as “some coal-to-power stations also need cooling water from rivers”.

Moreover, while drought can often invoke visions of queues at water tankers and failing crops, the impact on sewage infrastructure is rarely considered.

During the launch of the book Towards the Blue-Green City: Building Urban Water Resilience in June, co-author and University of the Western Cape Institute for Water Studies’ Professor Jenny Day noted that “less water flowing in sewers [means that] the sewers are more vulnerable to blockages and, therefore, to overflows”.

Further, as people flush toilets less frequently to conserve water, the amount of sewage reaching wastewater treatment plants decreases, creating a “vicious cycle of failing wastewater treatment plants, [even] less water available, and less effluent, which could’ve perhaps been recycled”.

Both examples illustrate that the effects of climate change can be much more subtle than physical destruction and, as international organisation the Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA) notes, the interconnected nature of infrastructure systems means that significant disruption in one aspect can “exert a significant human toll”.

GCA CEO Patrick Verkooijen notes that “every corporation and individual is vulnerable to climate risk because they all depend, to some degree, on infrastructure. Ensuring that these infrastructure systems can operate under future climate scenarios is vital for us and our economies”.

He adds that the cost of infrastructure damage will increase exponentially by 2050. Citing Ghana as an example, he notes that climate risk could lead to $3.9-billion worth of damage to the transport sector by 2050. This would, in addition to strangling the Ghanaian economy, risk cutting off 80% of the population from access to healthcare.

The costs of extreme weather events are escalating. The floods experienced in KwaZulu-Natal earlier this year killed more than 400 people, immobilised business activity in parts of the province and caused considerable infrastructure damage, with Parliament’s Ad Hoc Joint Committee on Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery estimating that repairs would cost at least R17-billion.

It is, therefore, evident that infrastructure resilience is key to long-term sustainability because, as Deloitte Africa Climate and Sustainability leader Mark Victor notes, resilient systems improve the ability of a society to withstand shocks.

Creating infrastructure resilience requires that local governments understand the current and future impact of climate change on the built and natural environment, and all the potential implications of climate risks. They should also model the risk impacts and use such models to create a comprehensive and strategic plan to help drive resilience, he explains.

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) senior researcher Willemien van Niekerk notes that, while the CSIR and other entities have been collecting and interpreting data to assist government in developing climate-res...

The first five months of the year have seen a “remarkable improvement” in the value of buildings completed in the metros and larger municipalities, with the category for additions and alterations coming out on top in terms of year-on-year growth rate, at “a whopping 92%”, says Optimum Investment Group economic adviser Dr Roelof Botha.

Although the value of residential buildings completed only rose by 16% year-on-year, this growth remains impressive, as it was generated from a high base, he adds.

The category for non-residential buildings placed in between these two, with a growth rate of almost 50% compared with the first five months of 2021.

The exceptionally strong showing of additions to existing buildings can be linked to the after-effects of the Covid pandemic, which has led to a structural decline in the occupancy levels of many office apartments, says Botha.

Some of these offices are now being converted into residential units or multipurpose real estate, which could include a mix of commercial, hospitality and warehousing facilities.

“It is worth noting that additions and alterations to existing buildings have now overtaken non-residential buildings as the second most important category,” notes Botha.

“This type of construction activity is inherently more labour intensive than non-residential buildings and also allows for a significant participation rate of relatively smaller firms.”

REITs Recovering

Several real estate investment trusts (Reits) will be buoyed by these newest trends, says Botha, with non-residential properties still feeling the pinch of lower occupancy rates induced by the Covid pandemic.

Although the listed property sector has outperformed the JSE all-share index over the past year, its five-year performance remains in the red.

According to news publication Moneyweb, a resumption of dividend payments by most Reits has improved investor confidence in the sector, with most fund managers forecasting forward dividend yields of close to 10%.

The pandemic has given rise to a structural shift in working conditions, with a large measure of remote work here to stay.

This will continue to shape the future performance of the property sector, especially with regard to an increase in demand for logistics space and repurposing of existing commercial and residential buildings, says Botha.

The revival of building activity is aligned to the results of the latest Afrimat Construction Index (ACI), which outperformed the gross domestic growth rate during the first quarter of the year on a year-on-year basis, albeit marginally.

The recovery of the property market from the debilitating effects of the pandemic is also reflected in the latest TPN Rental Monitor, which showed an improvement in the national residential vacancy rate from 13.3% in the first quarter of 2021, to 8.3% in the first quarter of 2022.

Rental Tenants Under Pressure

Unfortunately, tenants are facing pressure as a result of higher inflation and higher interest rates, with the number of tenants in good standing dropping marginally from 81.4% in the fourth quarter of 2021, to 80.8% in the first quarter of 2022, notes Botha.

Tenants in the R3 000 to R7 000 rental price bracket and those paying less than R3 000 a month were the worst performing categories, but rental brackets above R7 000 continued to rise from the low point recorded in the second quarter of 2020.

The Western Cape currently has the lowest vacancy rate and the highest number of tenants in good standing, says Botha.

“The province’s superior property market performance is also evident in the fact that it has overtaken Gauteng as the province with the highest value of building plans passed.

“These data sets confirm the so-called semigration trend that has become prevalent in South Africa, mainly as a result of huge and visible regional differences in the standards of service delivery at municipal level.”

Sasol Gas has confirmed that it has delayed the implementation of a controversial 96% increase in the price of pipeline gas, which was initially announced as being effective from August 1.

Had the increase been introduced, the price of gas charged to South African customers would have increased from R68.39/GJ to R133.34/GJ.

In a letter to customers, Sasol Gas said that it was continuing to engage with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) on the gas price to be implemented for the period to June 30, 2023, “in the hope that the matter can be finalised amicably and swiftly, in the interest of price certainty for gas suppliers, traders and consumers”.

“Pending these ongoing engagements with Nersa, Sasol Gas has decided not to implement the new actual gas price of R133.34/GJ effective 1 August as previously communicated to you,” the letter reads, adding that it will continue to charge R68.39/GJ.

Following news of the hike, Nersa insisted that it had not approved any increase in the maximum price of pipeline gas and stated that it “would not approve any increase which doubles its previously approved maximum gas price”.

This statement followed an outcry from the Industrial Gas Users Association of Southern Africa (IGUA-SA), which warned that the hike would cost the South African economy R325-million a month and could trigger both manufacturing cutbacks and retail price hikes.

IGUA-SA has been at loggerheads with Nersa over the gas-price methodology for years and in December last year lodged an application in the Gauteng division of the High Court challenging Nersa’s 2021 approval of Sasol Gas’ maximum gas prices.

It has also made repeated calls for Nersa to adopt a methodology that uses Sasol’s cost base as the main reference point for setting the price.

Prior to its decision to delay the increase, Sasol Gas said the price had been determined using the approved calculation methodology and had been communicated with Nersa.

It also noted that the revised price was well below the maximum gas price as determined by the Nersa Maximum Gas Price decision.

“Applying this approved adjustment method yields a maximum gas price of R273.43/GJ,” Sasol Gas said.

Cartrack has enabled a series of new safety alerts for vehicle drivers and fleet managers related to speeding, traffic proximity and potential distractions.

The company says it has enhanced its video- and sensor-based safety technology – powered by artificial intelligence (AI) – taking its accuracy in capturing high-definition video of critical events “to the next level”.

Cartrack Live Vision camera technology is a cloud-connected video management solution that takes feeds from in-cab safety cameras and uses AI analysis to provide proactive driver monitoring.

“This camera technology is proven to protect drivers, as well as lower costs, and contributes towards the safety of millions of drivers and commuters on South Africa’s roads,” explains the company.

“The Live Vision camera technology works in sync with Cartrack’s on-the-ground operations cloud platform and Internet of Things devices to give enterprises a full view of their fleet operations.”

Cartrack says a fleet manager will, for example, receive alerts about a driver’s behaviour in real time.

He or she is then able to log in to Cartrack’s Web platform or mobile app to watch any of the camera footage via livestream, ensuring that preventative action can be taken immediately, if necessary.

Forward-collision warning, distracted and fatigued driving, smoking, yawning and cellphone use have all been added as new events on Cartrack’s Live Vision.

Cartrack’s AI technology will track the driver’s head pose to alert to distracted driving, while the fatigue indicator will monitor whether the driver’s eyes are open, alert and focused on the road.

These features are captured in real time and delivered to the fleet manager for preventative coaching and training, while in-cab warnings also audibly alert the driver to avoid dangers on the road.

The likelihood of tampering is minimised given the immediacy of the AI alerts.

Cartrack national commercial manager Bret Smith says AI-powered camera technology makes it possible for fleet managers to remotely support drivers and to manage fleets more effectively.

“AI technology and telematics have a pivotal role in measuring and coaching drivers on behaviour and ensuring that they are aware of the risks on the road.

“Fleet owners face challenges in managing driver behaviour on short and long-haul trips, particularly with driver fatigue, safety and speed being largely self-regulated.

“AI is changing the way we view risk management and is a necessity for any business to assist with better decision-making, improving safety and enhancing operational efficiencies,” adds Smith.