document Brussels — Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me begin by extending a very warm welcome to you all. I’m delighted to see so many of you here at this meeting of the Sustainable Energy for All Access Committee. Our task today is an important one: to build on the crucial recommendations put forward in […]
Tag Archives: Africa
The inter-governmental agreement regarding nuclear energy signed between South Africa and Russia is one of over 60 different energy related co-operation agreements signed by the Department of Energy on behalf of government. The agreements address different aspects of energy and the usage of different energy sources. “The Intergovernmental Agreement on Strategic Partnership in Nuclear Energy […]
Photo: Climate demonstration (file photo) analysis Editor’s Note It is still conventional wisdom to pit action to curb climate change against economic growth. But the evidence is rapidly accumulating that this is a false dilemma, buttressed by vested interests in the fossil fuel industry and a simplistic concept of economic growth. According to a report […]
analysis What’s the Issue ? Petroleum product pricing is a troubling issue in Nigeria and a major focus of numerous subsidy debates held in the country in the run up to the 2012 subsidy protests. The debates revealed that there was no common front/agreeable cost of refined petroleum, kerosene and diesel per litre in Nigeria. […]
analysis By Saliem Fakir There are three aspects of energy supply that lend themselves to shifting the diversification of a national economy. The mix of supply should reduce dependence on any source, especially if the source creates a foreign dependence or a systems path-dependence that eventually leads to wider risks for the general economy. In […]
Photo: Kendal power station, Eskom South Africa analysis By Dirk De Vos Bailing Eskom out, again, is not enough; we need to fix Eskom’s underlying structural problems. And at this critical stage we simply cannot afford another pointless debate about the merits (or not) of privatisation – its goes nowhere. But an interesting way around […]
Washington, DC — Remarks delivered to the ‘Power Africa’ luncheon sponsored by the Just over a year ago, on a bright sunny day I stood at a power plant in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania listening to President Obama tell the world about the Power Africa initiative, an ambitious program with bi-partisan support in Congress. I […]
New York Stock Exchange-listed Chinese company Jinko Solar, the fourth-largest solar PV manufacturer in the world, unveiled an R80-million solar photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing plant in Cape Town on Tuesday. The factory – the company’s first outside of China – will produce up to 1 300 solar panels a day, translating to 120 megawatts (MW) […]
Washintgon — Governments in sub-Saharan Africa are selling crude petroleum in shadowy deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars without publicly accounting for the money, according to a new report. A lack of transparency over staggering amounts of oil revenues is concerning from countries that have millions of people living in dire poverty, weak budgetary […]
Washington — Pressure is building here for lawmakers to pass a bill that would funnel billions of dollars of U.S. investment into strengthening Africa’s electricity production and distribution capabilities, and could offer broad new support for off-grid opportunities. With half of the U.S. Congress having already acted on the issue, supporters are now hoping that […]
Recent research from the World Health Organisation reveals that air pollution is responsible for one in eight deaths globally. For people living on the Highveld in South Africa, these statistics represent a genuine threat. People in the Highveld suffer disproportionately from health problems directly related to pollution from Eskom’s coal-fired power stations in the region. […]
The African Development Bank has approved a US$ 142-million loan to help fund the construction of a $ 908-million, 100-megawatt (MW) concentrating solar power plant in the Northern Cape – the bank’s first loan for a renewable energy project by an independent power producer in South Africa. A consortium led by Spanish company Abengoa was […]
“Winter is coming.” The gloomy tagline of TV show Game of Thrones, promising cold and darkness, was proclaimed by many social media commentators in response to the news that the controversial Tina Joemat-Pettersson is to take up the role of Minister of Energy. Contrary to apparently widespread belief, managing oversight of Eskom does not currently […]
