South Africa does not lack for plans. What the country does lack, however, is a big unifying idea around which its plans, policies and programmes can cohere. A vision that shapes and directs not... 

June could well go down as the month that South Africa finally turned the key on the starter motors of some important growth engines. The precise details of the regulatory reform that will lift the... 

Images of the remarkable Gift of the Givers drilling for water outside the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, in Coronationville, Gauteng, may have been uplifting for many. It showed the power... 

The already fragile national mood has turned decidedly more sour over the past few weeks as the country descended, yet again, into confidence-sapping load-shedding, tightened lockdown rules in... 

The level of interest being shown in South Africa’s highly-disrupted renewables roll-out is more than a little noteworthy. Over 800 delegates logged into a virtual bidders conference last week,... 

South Africa’s ongoing resistance to the energy transition is not only distressingly out of step with fast-moving developments, but is becoming a binding constraint on prospects for ending the... 

The downward trajectory in Eskom’s sales to industrial customers over the past decade and a bit tells a tale of what happens when tariffs, which were too low for too long, are forced to correct too... 

With the deadline looming for public comment on a draft amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act (ERA), calls are growing for the reform to go beyond simply raising the... 

There is little doubt that many South Africans still have a great, albeit idealised, affection for Cuba, despite its many social, political and economic problems. This affinity is firmly rooted in... 

The immediate reaction to government’s announcement that three power ships had secured 1 200 MW of the 1 850 MW allocated to eight preferred bidders following the evaluation of bids received under... 

It’s early days yet, but the moves being made by South African energy and chemicals group Sasol to position itself as a green-hydrogen leader are not only interesting, but also critical if the... 

Have a listen to this for an energy roadmap: “We are a relatively small country located at the end of the world, but this moment calls us all to be ambitious and that’s exactly what we are trying... 

There will be some criticism and disappointment that South Africa’s draft updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) unveiled by Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara... 

A snapshot of what the world’s total final electricity consumption should look like in 2050 to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels has been published by the... 

The six-year gap in South Africa’s procurement of new electricity capacity is biting and will continue to do so for another five years at least, unless urgent action is taken to reform those... 

The rhetoric about the need for economies to use Covid-19 rescue and recovery packages to not only “bounce back” but to “bounce forward” by deploying fiscal resources to stimulate greater climate,... 

Globally, countries are increasingly  prioritising the development of local capacity to improve the resilience of their energy systems in times of crisis. This trend is reflected in the World... 

One of the unsung highlights of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s Budget 2021 speech was his announcement that the border posts at South Africa’s six busiest land borders were to be upgraded and... 

Much attention is, quite correctly, being given to the 15.68% tariff increase granted to Eskom by the energy regulator following a court order arising as part of an ongoing battle over the National... 

It is positive that South Africa has been working on a hydrogen strategy since 2007. It is equally positive that this work has started to deliver solid thought leadership regarding the production... 

The importance of Eskom’s endorsement of a lifting of the generation licensing cap from 1 MW to 50 MW cannot be overstated. CEO Andre de Ruyter expressed support for the proposal, made by Meridian... 

A leaked slide on the implementation of the Integrated Resource Plan 2019 (IRP 2019) included as part of a larger presentation made during the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) January lekgotla... 

During a recent briefing on the escalating humanitarian crisis in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province, of northern Mozambique, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Valentin Tapsoba... 

The Global Economic Prospects report, released by the World Bank earlier this month, makes for disturbing reading. The report states that the Covid-19 pandemic has precipitated a dramatic fall in... 

The prognosis for stable electricity supply remains precarious and has deteriorated following the unplanned early shutdown of Unit 1 at the Koeberg nuclear power station during the first week of... 

While the glow from the embers of this historic year remain visible, the fire of 2020 is now truly dying – not a moment too soon for many, no doubt. Nevertheless, it would be an opportunity missed... 

Editorial Insight 4 December 2020 The energy policy stance of North Africa’s largest economy, Egypt, is not only increasingly aligned with the global energy transition but is also beginning to... 

For years, South Africans have had a vague awareness that some of Eskom’s coal stations are approaching the end of their useful lives and that decommissioning is inevitable. That future prospect is... 

While South Africa is distracting itself with a post-2030 nuclear mirage, much of the rest of the world is preparing to ride a very real energy wave that will help them recover immediately from the... 

For some time now, Eskom has been arguing that its debt load, which stood at R484-billion at the end of March, could only be considered sustainable if it were reduced to less than half that level,... 

Most of us have probably not fully grasped the scale and significance of the changes set to unfold in the South African electricity sector over the coming decade. For energy planners, however, the... 

Despite much head scratching over the timelines provided in the Reconstruction and Recovery Plan for the commissioning of much-needed electricity supply, October otherwise proved to be an important...