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Large electricity consumers have again called for proposed amendments to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act, which governs the registration and licensing of distributed-generation plants, to be “meaningful” in a context where load-shedding cost the economy up to R160-billion in 2020 alone.

Besides a submission by Business Unity South Africa (Busa) on the draft amendment, which was published for public comment on April 23, it has been confirmed that the Energy Intensive Users Group of Southern Africa (EIUG), the Minerals Council South Africa and the Aggregate and Sand Producers Association of South Africa (Aspasa) have all made separate submissions ahead of the June 4 closing date.

The EIUG, which represents companies that consume around 40% of South Africa’s electricity and employ over 650 000 employees, describes reforming Schedule 2 as crucially important for industries embarking on developing their own generation capacity to supplement grid-supplied electricity.

However, unlike those calling on Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe to raise the licence-exemption threshold to 50 MW rather than the 10 MW proposed, the EIUG is, instead, calling for “no arbitrary licensing threshold, or licence requirement”.

Instead, the organisation argues in its submission that capacity for ‘own-use’ should be determined by the system operator on the premise of technical network considerations, including infrastructure, control and grid stability, and compliance to the Grid Code.

Crucially, however, its definition of own-use includes any generation facility irrespective of whether the electricity is used on the same property as the facility, or is wheeled over distribution or transmission systems, or both.

In addition, the EIUG believes the reform must not only allow for multiple end-use customers to secure economies of scale, but that facility ownership should have no bearing on its licensing, which would allow for projects to be self-funded, funded in partnership or financed through third-parties.

“Projects of 50 MW and upwards will reach economies of scale, meaningfully meet the needs of large power users, and maximise industry participation and support in closing of the supply deficit.”

MINISTER WARNS OF CHAOS

Mantashe is reluctant to raise the threshold beyond 10 MW, however, nor is he in support of allowing plants to wheel and trade electricity in the absence of undergoing a full licensing process with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).

He argued in his recent Budget Vote that the market was “not ready” for a threshold higher than 10 MW (the current cap is 1 MW) and told the Sunday Times that rapid liberalisation could lead to “chaos”.

The EIUG acknowledges that increasing the limit may have some technical challenges for network operators in certain areas but says this is not in itself sufficient reason for not increasing the limit, as the connection approval process will still consider all the associated technical risks.

“Therefore, if the Grid Code requirements are met, including ability for system operator to communicate with the own-use generation facilities above a certain threshold (to be technically determined by the system operator) approval should be granted.”

Similarly, the Minerals Council also believes amending Schedule 2 is key to enabling additional electricity generation to improve energy security and, ultimately, foster economic recovery and growth.

However, CEO Roger Baxter says it is supportive of a proposal to increase the Schedule 2 licence cap from 10 MW to 50 MW; a position that is aligned with one also made by Busa as well as recent statement made by Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA).

“A limitation of 10 MW may unlock embedded generation for commercial operations, but it will not enable investment in larger self-generation projects for larger industrial or mining operations,” Baxter says.

“A cap of 50 MW will allow for more than 5 000 MW of new, mostly renewabl...

The number of private vaccination sites will need to be ramped-up aggressively in the coming weeks if South Africa is to reach the daily inoculation tempo of 192 000 required by the start of June to position the country to consume the millions of vaccine doses that have been secured for its phased mass vaccine roll-out.

On May 17, South Africa kicked-off phase two of its campaign, which is geared towards vaccinating 5.4-million people over 60 before mid-winter, as well as those health workers not covered during the phase one Sisonke trial.

During the first four days of the roll-out, only 22 private sites were initially accredited to support the 155 registered public sites and it is estimated that the public sites administered about 75% of the initial 117 000 phase-two doses.

Business for South Africa’s Martin Kingston said on Friday that work was under way to ensure that there were sufficient sites to match the supply of vaccine, with large batches of between 325 000 and 636 000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses arriving weekly until the end of June and with a further three-million of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J’s) Janssen doses expected to follow in late May and June.

The delivery of the J&J vaccine has been delayed following a contamination incident at a manufacturing facility in Baltimore, in the US, which spoiled 15-million doses.

“To consume this supply over the coming six weeks would require a daily capacity of 192 000 vaccinations,” Kingston noted, adding that various private entities – including general practitioners, pharmacies, hospitals, medical schemes and large private employers – were committing resources to improve coverage.

The number of sites was due to increase to over 200 in the second week of the roll-out, while the registration and curation process for establishing both workplace and mass vaccination sites was said to be accelerating.

The process of accrediting sites, including sites at mining and industrial enterprises with in-house occupational health services, had been streamlined and thousands of applications had either been processed or were currently being processed.

Medscheme’s Lungi Nyathi who is helping to drive the process of operationalising workplace vaccination centres said that it was likely that these sites would be in a position to administer doses at a daily rate of 24 000 within the coming few weeks.

These sites will focus initially on vaccinating employees, such as mineworkers, but it is anticipated that they will also provide services for family members, as well as surrounding communities.

REGISTERING OVER-40s?

South Africa has secured 45-million vaccine doses until the end of 2021 and Kingston said there were sufficient doses available to accelerate the roll-out, particularly in light of a disappointingly low level of registration on the Electronic Vaccine Delivery System (EVDS).

As of May 21, only 1.6-million people over 60 had registered, a response that was likely attributable to the fact that many elderly South Africans lacked direct access to the technology needed to complete the EVDS registration.

Kingston said that talks were under way about opening EVDS registration to people over 40 in the not-too-distant future but emphasised that registration would not equate to immediate vaccination, as priority would be given to those over 60, who remained the most vulnerable to Covid-19.

Statistics show that, while those over 60 years account for only 9% of South Africa’s population, they had accounted for 36% of all Covid-related hospital admissions and 60% of reported deaths.

“They are the priority, particularly given the risk of a third wave,” Kingston said, reporting that up to 40 000 lives could be saved if this section of the population were to be vaccinated ahead of the winter season.

Naamsa | the Automotive Business Council says the local automotive industry is assessing its state of readiness to implement the Automotive Aftermarket Guidelines on July 1.

These Guidelines were published by the Competition Commission of South Africa on December 10 and aim to provide improved access to black-owned and small and medium-sized enterprises to undertake service, maintenance and repair work on vehicles, including the period covered by a warranty.

Naamsa says it views the introduction of the guidelines as “a positive disruption”, that will further “enhance and hasten the sector’s transformation ambitions”.

Naamsa CEO Mikel Mabasa says the automotive industry body will meet with the Competition Commission in the coming weeks to share its general state of readiness.

“We are mindful that not all our members are at the same level, or state of readiness.

“For this reason, we will transparently discuss our existing implementation plans ahead of July 1, and carefully consider how those principles, which may not be fully ready for implementation, will be phased-in to ensure full adoption and compliance within a reasonable time frame.

“Once fully aligned, members of the public will be kept informed at every step in order to ensure that accurate information is communicated at all times,” says Mabasa.

He adds that there has been “some reckless and persistent misrepresentation and miscommunication of what the Guidelines are all about”.

“There are individuals and irresponsible groups who have made it their preoccupation to make public pronouncements that misrepresent and/or distort the true meaning behind the intent and the spirit of some of the principles within the Guidelines, in order to advance their narrow selfish commercial interests.

“To this effect, Naamsa will join the Competition Commission to distribute public educational material in order to intensify accurate messaging campaigns around the Guidelines,” says Mabasa.

Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo reports that Operation Vulindlela is close to resolving an ongoing policy discussion within government on the reforms needed to increase electricity supply “by allowing the private sector to invest more freely in its own generation”.

Delivering his Budget Vote speech on Thursday, Masondo again described the shortage of electricity as “the single biggest threat to our economic recovery, apart from Covid-19”.

Reforms in the electricity sector were, thus, urgent, as “reliable and affordable supply of electricity was critical for our economic growth and recovery path”.

The key reform being debated under the aegis of Operation Vulindlela, established by The Presidency and the National Treasury to clear blockages to growth-supportive reforms, related to a proposed amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act.

“Research indicates that the current requirement for a National Energy Regulator of South Africa licence for plant larger than 1 MW is a deterrent to investment, because the licensing process is too complex, lengthy, and expensive for these relatively small investments.

“The licensing process cannot be simplified or streamlined quickly because most of its steps are required by legislation.”

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe published a draft amendment on April 23 that proposes lifting the licence-exemption cap for distributed projects from 1 MW to 10 MW.

The comment period for the amendment closes this week and Mantashe has been heavily criticised for seemingly ignoring this process when announcing in Parliament this week that the cap would not be lifted beyond 10 MW, claiming that the market was “not ready” for a higher threshold.

Although seen as progress, organised business, supported by Eskom, has called for the cap to be raised to 50 MW and for the Act’s prevailing constraints on the wheeling and selling of electricity to nonrelated end consumers to be removed.

Without contradicting the 10 MW threshold contained in the draft amendment, Masondo indicated that policy discussions and debates regarding this reform within government were ongoing.

The debate, he indicated, centred on the benefits of increasing the available supply of power by allowing the private sector to invest more freely in its own generation being weighed against concerns about the impact of the reform on municipal finances and on the stability of municipal distribution networks and the readiness of Eskom and municipalities to manage a large number of new connections of small generators.

“Operation Vulindlela has been working to resolve this policy discussion and I believe we are close to a resolution,” Masondo announced.

Speaking separately on SAfm on Friday, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali also lent his support to calls for a raising in the licence-exemption threshold to 50 MW.

He appealed to Mantashe to “listen sometimes” to those in the industry who have indicated that a 50 MW threshold would be more appropriate.

“I think those are people who know better, they are involved in the industry, they want to invest, and we see no reason why government should not allow them to do that,” Ntshalintshali said.

Creamer Media's Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about the target set by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel to localise R200-billion of additional production over a five-year period to displace non-oil imports; how business is responding in this regard; and the risks that will need to be managed to achieve that target.

The Shoprite Group will, by the end of June, have added 39 solar-powered refrigerated rigid trucks to its existing solar-powered fleet of 749 trailers, says group sustainability manager Sanjeev Raghubir .

“It’s the first time we are adding solar-power nitrogen refrigerated rigid trucks to our fleet. It is also a first for Africa.”

Shoprite has a total fleet of 855 trucks and 1 247 trailers, of which 749 are solar-powered trailers. Of this solar-powered trailer fleet, 473 units are refrigerated. The remaining 276 units are not refrigerated, but the tail lift is powered by solar energy.

The non-solar-powered trailers in the fleet are traditional diesel-powered refrigerated trailers, with the diesel-powered cooling unit situated at the front of the unit.

Each solar-powered refrigerated trailer makes use of four solar panels to generate energy that is then stored in batteries. This energy is used to move nitrogen around to cool the trailer, explains Raghubir.

This means that the nitrogen has to be refilled at Shoprite’s depots, similar to the traditional cooling system where the diesel has to be replenished.

Raghubir says the solar-powered units have been deployed in the Shoprite fleet since 2017, in an effort to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

When approached by a local vendor with the solar solution, the company ran a pilot programme to test the technology, followed by large-scale implementation of the locally manufactured trailer.

“The solar-powered trailers mean that we have reduced our use of diesel and, therefore, our emissions,” says Raghubir. “With this system it is not necessary to idle the truck when loading and offloading.”

“You can also uncouple the trailer from the truck, and it will run on its own power – also at night.

“The system also makes less noise, which is important when considering that many of our delivery areas are adjacent to office parks and residential areas.

“Nitrogen is also cheaper than diesel.”

Raghubir says the solar-powered units deliver a return on investment in two years.

The trailers have to date, also delivered a reduction of 471 t of carbon dioxide equivalent a year for Shoprite.

He adds that solar-powered units provide the same level of refrigeration as diesel-powered units.

“We are also able to monitor the temperature of the trailer remotely, to ensure the cold chain remains intact.”

Despite the success of the solar-powered units, Shoprite will not expand the technology to its entire South African refrigerated fleet, says Raghubir.

“It can become a risk to the cold-chain if there is a shortage of nitrogen, as has been the case during Covid-19.”

The shortage of nitrogen arose as manufacturers switched to the production of oxygen for medical purposes.

Shoprite is, however, continuously refining the system, and has recently increased the lithium iron phosphate battery’s capacity by 40%, while also increasing the solar panel output per panel.

Initial research conducted for the Deep Decarbonisation Pathways (DDP) project in collaboration with the National Business Initiative (NBI) indicates that there is an emerging opportunity for South Africa to produce so-called “green iron” for export to international steelmakers seeking to transition away from the use of carbon-intensive coking coal in the production of the basic material.

The green-iron research forms part of a broader initiative – involving NBI, Business Unity South Africa and the Boston Consulting Group – to develop decarbonisation pathways for domestic industry that could also support the country’s proposed “just transition” to a more climate-resilient economy.

The initial findings, which were presented by SA DDP lead Hilton Trollip and Bryce McCall of the UCT Energy Systems Research Group this week, indicate that it will be cheaper to produce green iron in South Africa, owing to the country’s “abundant and very low-cost renewable energy potential” relative to many other territories, including the European Union (EU).

Should green-iron technologies, such as hydrogen direct-reduced iron (HDRI), be proven commercially over the coming decade, dedicated renewable-energy plants could be developed to produce green hydrogen through a process known as electrolysis, which uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The hydrogen could then be used to convert South African iron-ore into HDRI and used by those international steelmakers with net-zero emission commitments to produce carbon-free steel.

Green iron will cost more than conventional technologies at first, but demand is nevertheless anticipated to be strong in markets where end-users, such as automakers, or governments have made specific decarbonisation commitments and are prepared to pay a price premium for steel with zero embodied emissions.

“Commercial-scale green iron plants have recently been announced to begin operating in the EU from between 2024 and 2030,” Trollip said, during a webinar attended by several European ambassadors and co-hosted by French thinktank IDDRI.

Government policy is likely to play a key role in supporting these commercialisation activities, with the EU having created ‘lead markets’ to drive innovation by providing substantial support for technology research, development and demonstration, protecting its markets and creating demand for premium priced products to support the demonstration and commercialisation of new technologies.

“The production of a green iron at a South African location, for export to the EU, could have substantial financial and economic benefits for both South Africa and Europe as it will reduce the overall cost of EU decarbonisation while making its steel industry more competitive.”

As the technology matures, South Africa could begin integrating green iron into its own domestic steelmaking processes.

“South Africa is not in the same position as the EU when it comes to creating a domestic market to warrant the large lumpy investment involved in establishing a green-iron plant,” Trollip argues, adding that the production of green iron for export could, however, be a stepping stone on the path to steel decarbonisation in South Africa.

“Green iron is an opportunity for South Africa to export beneficiated renewable energy embodied in beneficiated domestic iron-ore, while hugely increasing the value of this iron-ore.”

Prospects for producing green iron and steel were also flagged in a recent report into the potential for green hydrogen, produced by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

The report argues that ArcelorMittal South Africa’s mothballed Saldanha steel plant, on the West Coast, includes a direct reduced iron plant and could be modified to be supplied by green hydrogen, to produce material that could be shipped to Europe.

“This would provide a new business model for a plant that was unable to compete with cheap Chinese steel supply, and would be synergistic with the Saldanha po...

The Water Research Commission (WRC) is embarking on an ambitious programme to ensure the effective siltation management and improved storage capacity of 320 State-owned, Department of Water and Sanitation- (DWS-) managed large dams.

The three-year National Dam Siltation Management Strategy in South Africa, or NatSilt, project, was launched during a two-day virtual WRC NatSilt Symposium from May 19 to 20, after the WRC was appointed by the DWS to manage and implement the project.

Funded by the DWS, the programme’s overarching aim is to develop and pilot a strategy that will guide, advise and ensure effective siltation management and related improved storage capacity for dams.

The programme sets out to address reservoir storage losses experienced owing to dam siltation, the accumulation of sediments and silt in dams as a result of soil erosion.

In the last year, some of the country's dams have experienced up to 90% sedimentation with storage capacity losses ranging between 10% and 30%.

The WRC will be developing a package of siltation management solutions, including the relevant tools, models, frameworks, protocols, guides and plans to assist with the implementation and monitoring of the strategy.

This will assist the DWS in sustaining supply to domestic, industrial, strategic and agricultural bulk water users, as well as save scarce financial resources by extending the lifecycle of existing dams.

The programme will result in the development of a dam basin siltation management operations model, a sustainable dredging business model, a dam basin classification decision-making tool, capacity building, a step-by-step comprehensive implementation plan and the piloting of the draft strategy, models and tools.

Phase 1 comprises research, assessments and the development of a siltation management strategy and related tools for large dams, while the piloting of various models, concepts and the tools will be undertaken in Phase 2.

A review and revision towards a final strategy, with relevant models and tools, will be completed in the final third phase.

The pilot plan will potentially be rolled out in three government water schemes, namely Welbedacht dam in the Free State; Hazelmere dam in KwaZulu-Natal and Darlington Dam/Orange-Fish GWS in the Eastern Cape.

The programme has four sub-projects that will be integrated and managed as one programme to meet the desired objectives.

The strategy development sub-project comprises a situational analysis, the engagement of a broad range of stakeholders, mapping of the drivers and challenges linked to potential solutions and the provision of an up-to-date state of dam siltation management in South Africa.

The development of the relevant tools, models, frameworks, protocols, guides and plans will assist with the implementation and monitoring of the strategy.

Under a sub-project called ‘dam engineering and socioecological systems’, the team will generate and test tools that will enable the alleviation of dam siltation through optimised catchment management as well as dam engineering methodologies and innovations.

The ‘sustainable dredging of dams’ sub-project recognises the importance of dredging and will work to develop sustainable, cost-effective dam dredging model and protocols for a variety of “learning” dams and contexts.

Priority sites will be identified through a consultative process to capture areas requiring intervention and that are representative of a larger set of dams.

The programme will also have a training and capacity development component to develop a new cohort of skilled professionals and citizens to enhance and improve the efficiency of dam siltation management.

The Department of Telecommunications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) has tabled a budget of R3.7-billion for the 2021/22 financial year, with seven priorities outlined for the year ahead.

The Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM); the release of spectrum; an infrastructure investment and mass employment programme; the Digital Economy Masterplan and its implementation; digital and future skills; the reindustrialisation of the economy with focus on small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs); and the repurposing of State-owned companies are the focus areas over the next year.

In her Budget Vote, Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said that, in terms of the BDM, the analogue transmissions within 32 sites in the three priority provinces have been switched off, representing 40% of the planned sites since commencement in March.

The department achieved 96% Analogue Switch-off (ASO) in the Free State with 22 of the 23 planned sites now off, while 26% ASO has been achieved in the Northern Cape, at 7 of the planned 27 sites, and 10% in the North-West province, at three of the planned 29 sites.

“We are targeting to have the majority of the sites in the three provinces switched off by the middle of July this year,” she assured.

Further, the ASO process is targeting the phased release of the much-needed 700 MHz and 800 MHz digital dividend spectrum on a province-by-province basis by the end of March 2022.

“This process combined with the digital-to-digital migration will make available a total of 168 MHz spectrum in each of the provinces.”

Meanwhile, Ndabeni-Abrahams called on involved stakeholders, including the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), to resolve the current deadlock on the spectrum auction process and find an amicable solution.

Icasa’s planned spectrum licensing was due to start on March 31, however, several legal battles over Icasa’s invitation to apply have left the release date of high-demand spectrum in limbo once again.

“The current litigations on spectrum auction and licensing of Wireless Open-Access Network hamper our determination to rebuild our economy,” she said.

Another focus area for the year ahead is infrastructure investment and mass employment.

“Through investment in digital infrastructure expansion, 5 920 jobs have already been created by the sector and it is envisaged that there will be an increase of at least 25% of this target,” she continued.

Alongside this, the DCDT is focusing on the growth of small businesses and the reindustrialisation of the economy, with R2.6-billion committed for the support of SMMEs.

“The department and its entities always endeavour to support SMMEs through various procurement opportunities. To this end, our department has supported 393 SMMEs.”

Further, it is expected that the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Sector Council will publish its sector code to provide for 50% target procurement from majority black-owned suppliers, an increase from 40% in the current code.

Icasa has also recently announced new regulations aimed at promoting historically disadvantaged South Africans in the ICT sector, which will require licensees to comply with the mandatory equity ownership requirement of 30% by black people and level 4 broad-based black economic-empowerment status.

As part of the DCDT’s ambitions to digitally-empower South Africans, a Digital Economy Masterplan has been finalised. The department is currently engaging various stakeholders in the development of the implementation plan.

“It is envisaged that the implementation of the Digital Economy Masterplan will see the achievement of economic contribution upwards of 4.5% of gross domestic product a year, the creation of one-million jobs over the next 10 years [and] create massive opportunities for SMMEs.”

DCDT has also developed a National Digital and Future Skills strategy to establish an education and skills development ecosystem that provides all South Africans with the required skills t...

Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has warned that defence cuts are severely affecting the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), while security within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region has deteriorated. She was addressing the House of Assembly on Tuesday.

She pointed out that the more than R15-billion cut in the defence budget over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework was causing great difficulties for her department. “Our capital budget has effectively been reduced to a trickle and the operating budget is under extreme pressure,” she reported.

The SANDF was consequently finding it most difficult to increase the serviceability of its ‘prime mission equipment’. “Whilst we are fully aware of the fiscal challenges that South Africa has, the reduction in our allocation has had a devastating impact,” she affirmed.

She pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic had hit economic growth, trade and development, and human security in the SADC region. The disease had reinforced already existing drivers of conflict within the region. There would have to be careful, deliberate and coordinated interstate efforts to restore human security across SADC.

“We continue to be concerned by the security developments in the region, in particular the upsurge of insurgency in our neighbouring country,” she cautioned, in a clear reference to the Islamist insurgency in the Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique, neither of which she identified by name. “This has a potential of spilling over the entire region. The SADC regional leadership is seized with the matter and we hope for a speedy resolution.”

Budget cuts had forced the SANDF to adopt a short-term perspective, focused not its mandate but on its budget. It could only function to the degree that it was funded and resourced. Consequently, the SANDF would have to rebalance its military capabilities, seeking to create a future force that would still be able to fulfil a wide range of functions. To this end, she had issued a series of wide-ranging directives to her Department, the SANDF and the Defence Secretariat, covering cost cutting, restructuring and reorganisation. These steps would, however, involve “significant risk”.

“We are not immune to fundamentalism and extremism, terrorism, cybercrimes and organised crime,” she warned. “All these are significantly increasing on the continent and in the region. ... Against this backdrop, I once again ask of this House to apply its mind and wisdom to this question: ‘What kind of Defence Force should South Africa have and what can it afford?’”