South Africa will establish a One-Stop Shop for energy projects on May 30 as part of plans to address the energy crisis., Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo said in a speech.
(Bloomberg) — South Africa will establish a One-Stop Shop for energy projects on May 30 as part of plans to address the energy crisis., Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo said in a speech.
The One-Stop Shop will provide a single entry point for all energy-related applications, he said.
Other measures being worked on include developing special legislation to reduce or remove red tape for energy projects that will accelerate solar, wind and battery storage projects as well as transmission infrastructure, he said.
Eskom Outages Update (May 3, 6 p.m.)
South Africa’s state-owned power utility said in a statement that it will implement so-called stage 6 loadshedding — in which 6,000 megawatts are removed from the grid, from 4 p.m. Wednesday to 5 a.m. Thursday and then alternate between stages.Â
In a separate statement Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. said a former employee was ordered by a court to repay the money he stole from the utility when he was employed as an accountant at Kriel Power Station.
South African Miners Against Eskom Bailout, Business Day Says (April 28, 10:10 a.m.)
An industry lobby group for South Africa’s big mining companies has condemned the government’s decision to bailout Eskom, the Johannesburg-based Business Day reported.
The public funds could have been spent on providing essential services to citizens and the government should instead make way for the wholesale privatization of Eskom, Bongani Motsa, senior economist at the Minerals Council South Africa told lawmakers on Wednesday, the newspaper reported.
The Big Plan to Help Developing Nations Go Green Is Foundering (April 27, 8:35 a.m.)
Almost 18 months on, South Africa’s $8.5 billion transition showpiece looks more like a cautionary tale.Â
Only one coal-fired power plant has been closed since the so-called Just Energy Transition Partnership was unveiled to great fanfare at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow. Now, some South African politicians are pushing to keep others open longer than planned — potentially for years — as the country struggles to end daily blackouts that are angering voters and turning off foreign investors.
Read: The Big Plan to Help Developing Nations Go Green Is Foundering
Ex-CEO Says $55 Million-a-Month Eskom Theft Is an Underestimate (April 26, 11:27 a.m.)
The former head of South Africa’s state power utility said he probably underestimated the amount of money that’s being stolen from the company when he put it at 1 billion rand ($55 million) a month.
Ex-Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter also said internal resistance to measures he implemented to try and curb corruption at Eskom is hampering the effort to end graft. His comments were contained in a written submission to lawmakers, seen by Bloomberg, before his testimony Wednesday to a parliamentary committee investigating corruption at the utility.
Read: Ex-CEO Says $55 Million-a-Month Eskom Theft Is an Underestimate
South Africa’s SARB Sees Outages Adding Materially to Inflation (April 25, 7:58 p.m.)
South Africa’s electricity crisis is expected to add materially to headline inflation this year, the central bank said.
The South African Reserve Bank forecasts power cuts will add 0.5 percentage points to the inflation rate as businesses pass on the costs of back-up energy solutions to consumers, it said Tuesday in its six-monthly Monetary Policy Review.Â
–With assistance from Khuleko Siwele, Antony Sguazzin, Paul Burkhardt and Paul Vecchiatto.
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