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Cabinet and business praise Sasol and TFR for ‘first-of-its-kind’ partnership to repair 128 ammonia tankers

By: Terence Creamer 29th February 2024 Both Cabinet and organised business have lauded the five-year public-private partnership agreement between Sasol and Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), under which the energy and chemicals group will fund the maintenance and repair of a dedicated fleet of 128 ammonia tankers. In a statement following... →

Acting TFR CEO Russell Baatjies and Sasol CEO Fleetwood Grobler (seated at centre) sign the agreement, in front of their respective teams, including (standing from left to right) Mario Klaasen, Loven Naidoo, Bonginkosi Mabaso, Pierre Koch, Pierre Taljaard and Kevin Govender, with Ayanda Mokhesi seated to the left of Baatjies and Brad Griffith and David Mokomela seated to Grobler’s right

Business sees appointment of Phillips as key step in accelerating Transnet Recovery Plan

By: Terence Creamer 29th February 2024 Organised business says the appointment of a permanent executive team at Transnet – led by CEO Michelle Phillips, who has been acting in the role since September and who has been with the utility for 20 years – will enhance stability in the relationships between Transnet and the business sector... →

Amid disposals, AECI aligns internationalisation strategy to regions geared for rapid critical minerals growth

By: Terence Creamer 28th February 2024 JSE-listed AECI, which is undergoing far-reaching restructuring to re-focus on its core mining and chemicals businesses and reduce debt, reports strong initial interest in the six noncore companies that it plans to dispose of over the coming 18 months for combined proceeds of about R2.5-billion.... →

AECI CEO Holger Riemensperger

Hive Hydrogen signs wind power deal for R105bn Eastern Cape green ammonia plant

By: Martin Creamer 27th February 2024 Hive Hydrogen South Africa has signed an agreement with Genesis Eco-Energy to implement 372 MW of wind power in the Western Cape, in support of the development of its R105-billion green ammonia project at Coega in the Eastern Cape. The Coega green ammonia hub is a flagship investment project in... →

Hive Hydrogen South Africa chairperson Thulani Gcabashe.

Ramokgopa says govt close to finalising structure for private grid financing

By: Terence Creamer 26th February 2024 Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says all the work being done by government on the financial structure to facilitate private investment into the country’s transmission infrastructure is being consolidated under his Ministry, including the work being done on the issue by the National... →

Auto industry pleased with EV allocation, but more will be needed – Naamsa

By: Irma Venter 22nd February 2024 Naamsa | The Automotive Business Council has welcomed the announcementby Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in his Budget Speech on Wednesday that government will offer financial support for the local automotive industry to expand from the production of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to... →

Image of the Ford Ranger plant in Pretoria

Mining tax revenue down by 50.4% y/y

By: Darren Parker 21st February 2024 With various commodity prices taking a nosedive over the past year, windfall tax gains from high commodity prices over the preceding two years have come to an end, resulting in a sharp fall in mining tax revenue, National Treasury has said. In the 2024 Budget Review released on February 21, it... →

Godongwana draws down R150bn from gold and forex account to reduce borrowings and debt-service costs

By: Terence Creamer 21st February 2024 Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana unveiled a far-reaching reform in relation to government’s treatment of the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account (GFECRA), which will result in R150-billion in drawdowns from the account over the coming three years to reduce government... →

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana

2024 Budget highlights

21st February 2024 Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the key topics raised by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in his 2024 Budget speech. →

No immediate plan to list Aveng in Australia, but future listing likely amid change in reporting currency to Aussie dollar

By: Terence Creamer 20th February 2024 JSE-listed Aveng, which recently relocated is management epicentre to Australia and changed its reporting currency from South African rands to Australian dollars, has no immediate intention of listing in Australia but acknowledges that such a move is possible in future. Incoming CEO Scott... →

Incoming Aveng CEO Scott Cummins

Dispute over 5km road could highlight far bigger roadbuilding problem for Gauteng

By: Terence Creamer 20th February 2024 A legal dispute over the granting of an environmental authorisation for a 5-km new road, the K148, in southern Gauteng has the potential to highlight serious legal impediments to the development of any new road in the increasingly traffic-congested province. This, owing to an alleged misalignment... →

New fund to mobilise public and private funding to climate-proof existing essential infrastructure

By: Terence Creamer 19th February 2024 President Cyril Ramaphosa has provided some additional background to the Climate Change Response Fund, the formation of which he announced in his recent State of the Nation Address. Writing in his weekly newsletter, the President said the fund would seek to mobilise public and private finances to... →

President Cyril Ramaphosa

South Africa's gas cliff

By: Creamer Media Reporter 16th February 2024 Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses South Africa's gas cliff and the warning of a likely 'day zero' in the coming two years, as well as the possible risks associated with some for the proposed solutions. →

South Africa's gas cliff

Not practical to implement new ‘black box’ tariff rules from 2025, Eskom insists

By: Terence Creamer 12th February 2024 Eskom says the Electricity Pricing Determination Rules (EPDR) approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) in December cannot be implemented for the 2025/26 financial year as proposed by the regulator, owing to the time it takes to prepare, adjudicate and approve such... →

Electricity tariffs are currently determined using the MYPD methodology and involve various adjudication steps, including the public hearings pictured here

Photo by Creamer Media's Donna Slater
Electricity tariffs are currently determined using the MYPD methodology and involve various adjudication steps, including the public hearings pictured here

VW could announce third production model this year; expects uptick in 2024 car market

By: Irma Venter 9th February 2024 Volkswagen Group Africa (VWA) will hopefully this year receive the final confirmation on the production of a third model at the Kariega plant, says MD Martina Biene. This third model will add to production of the Polo and Polo Vivo at the Eastern Cape production site. →

The ID.4

Loadshedding, logistics, water crises key themes of SoNA 2024

By: Creamer Media Reporter 9th February 2024 Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses some of the key themes that emerged during President Cyril Ramaphosa's final State of the Nation Address of the current administration and how these affect the economy and business. →

Loadshedding, logistics, water crises key themes of SoNA 2024

Volkswagen spends big to counter loadshedding as it becomes sole Polo supplier

By: Irma Venter 7th February 2024 Volkswagen Group South Africa, now trading as Volkswagen Group Africa (VWA), is investing R55-million to generate 3 MW in additional solar energy for its assembly plant in Kariega, in the Eastern Cape, says MD Martina Biene. The panels will be installed on the car ports in the employee car park. →

Martina Biene

Nersa makes far-reaching changes to tariff rules, but implementation timing uncertain

By: Terence Creamer 6th February 2024 The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has approved far-reaching changes to the way electricity tariffs will be set in future, but it could still take some time before the rules are fully implemented. Nersa approved the new Electricity Price Determination Rules (EPDR) on December... →

Energy Council welcomes IRP extension, calls for strong reform message in SoNA

By: Terence Creamer 6th February 2024 Energy Council CEO James Mackay has welcomed the decision of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to extend the comment period for the draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2023 by a month and has also called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to use his State of the Nation Address (SoNA)... →

Energy Council CEO James Mackay

Initial signs that energy sector is stabilising; logistics to take longer – Minerals Council

By: Irma Venter 5th February 2024 The domestic mining industry is looking at 2024 as a year of stabilisation, rather than growth, says Minerals Council South Africa CEO Mzila Mthenjane. The industry continues to face persistent challenges such as loadshedding, an ailing logistics sector, and a declining commodity market. →

Mzila Mthenjane, Nolitha Fakude and Hugo Pienaar

Nersa formally publishes licences for new grid company

By: Terence Creamer 2nd February 2024 The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has officially published on its website the three licences required for the operationalisation of the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA), having approved their transfer from Eskom to the NTCSA last year. The NTCSA is in the... →

SA green hydrogen developers urged to bid for €270m in grant funding

By: Creamer Media Reporter 2nd February 2024 The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is offering €270-million in nonrefundable grant funding to close “bankability gaps” standing in the way of implementing industrial-scale green hydrogen projects in Brazil, Egypt, Georgia, India, Kenya, Morocco and South Africa.... →

SA green hydrogen developers urged to bid for €270m in grant funding

Yet another negative month for new-vehicle sales

By: Irma Venter 1st February 2024 New-vehicle sales declined by 3.8% in January, to 41 636 units, compared with the same month last year. This continued the decline in new-vehicle sales witnessed in the last five months of 2023. →

DP World, Woolworths unveil axle-powered refrigeration trailer

By: Irma Venter 31st January 2024 Logistics group DP World has partnered with food and clothing retailer Woolworths to roll out a refrigeration trailer featuring AxlePower technology. AxlePower “transforms ordinary road transport trailers into a source of clean and efficient electricity”, says DP World. →

Stellantis plant to break ground in May; Citroën key as volume brand going forward – Whitfield

By: Irma Venter 30th January 2024 Construction work on Stellantis’ assembly plant in the Coega Special Economic Zone, in the Eastern Cape, should kick off in May, says the vehicle manufacturer’s new CEO Mike Whitfield. The start of assembly – “in a very ambitious plan” – is scheduled for the beginning of 2026. →

IPPO ‘engaging’ with Eskom on implications of new curtailment rules for current renewables bid window

By: Terence Creamer 30th January 2024 The Independent Power Producer Office (IPPO) reports that it is engaging with Eskom on its newly released curtailment addendum to the latest Generation Connection Capacity Assessment (GCCA 2025) – through the addendum 3 470 MW of additional connection capacity for wind generators has been... →

South African green hydrogen developers urged to bid for €270m in German grant funding to close project ‘bankability gap’

By: Terence Creamer 29th January 2024 South African developers of mature green hydrogen or derivatives projects are potentially eligible for non-refundable grant funding being extended under Germany’s €270-million Power-to-X (PtX) Development Fund, set up to close “bankability gaps” standing in the way of implementing... →

Artist impression of a green hydrogen facility

Transnet needs ‘the right, permanent management, quickly’ – Havenga

By: Irma Venter 29th January 2024 State-owned rail and port operator Transnet could, potentially, show significant improvement this year compared with last year’s dismal performance, says transport economist and macrologistics researcher at Stellenbosch University Dr Jan Havenga. However, it is imperative that Public Enterprises... →

Jan Havenga

More than 290 000 jobs on the line as steel sector continues its decline, Seifsa warns

By: Schalk Burger 26th January 2024 Over a five-year period, the average 1.3% a year decline in the metals and engineering sector will lead to an average 2.9% decline in employment, or 293 754 direct and indirect job losses, industry organisation Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) COO Tafadzwa... →

Seifsa COO Tafadzwa Chibanguza

Govt proposes new entity to procure transmission infrastructure

By: Creamer Media Reporter 26th January 2024 Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses government's proposal to set up a dedicated entity to procure new electricity transmission infrastructure from the private sector and the role government expects the private sector to play in the area of the grid. →

Govt proposes new entity to procure transmission infrastructure

Dedicated freight lanes and restricted truck operating hours mooted in draft plan to shift cargo back to rail

By: Terence Creamer 25th January 2024 The Department of Transport (DoT) is canvasing as series of interventions aimed at attracting freight back to South Africa’s struggling rail system from road, which has emerged as the country’s freight backbone following Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR’s) precipitous decline in recent years.... →

Aqora becomes Afrivolt, aims for battery cell manufacturing in Cape Town

By: Irma Venter 24th January 2024 South African energy company Aqora has rebranded to become Afrivolt, says MD Deshan Naidoo. The firm’s goal, however, remains the same – opening a lithium-ion cell gigafactory in South Africa, able to produce anodes, cathodes and lithium-ion batteries for stationary storage applications and, in... →

Deshan Naidoo

Independent transmission project office to be set up to procure new grid using build, operate, transfer model

By: Terence Creamer 23rd January 2024 Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa reports that government plans to establish an independent transmission project office, located either at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) or the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), to procure new transmission capacity using a build,... →

Multibillion-rand Cape Winelands Airport aims to receive first passengers in 2027

By: Irma Venter 22nd January 2024 Cape Town’s proposed second big commercial airport, the Cape Winelands Airport (CWA), should receive its first passengers in 2027, says RSA.Aero MD Nick Ferguson. RSA.Aero is the project developer, with the first phase expected to cost between R5-billion and R7-billion. →

An artist's impression of the proposed Cape Winelands Airport

Electric buses to be rolled out in DBSA-funded project in Tshwane, eThekwini

By: Irma Venter 19th January 2024 Tshwane and eThekwini could see the rollout of 39 electric commuter buses by the end of next year. The introduction of the zero-emissions vehicles will form part of a pilot project funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), and managed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and... →

Electricity procurement picks up pace

By: Chanel de Bruyn 19th January 2024 Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses the efforts being made to reinvigorate South Africa's public procurement of new electricity capacity after recent disappointments and amid ongoing loadshedding, as well as the key messages that emerged from bidders’ conferences on the country's... →

Electricity procurement picks up pace

1 000 MW gas-to-power cap placed on Richards Bay for first gas procurement round

By: Terence Creamer 18th January 2024 While ‘location agnostic’, South Africa’s inaugural 2 000 MW gas-to-power (GtP) procurement round is limiting the development of facilities in the City of uMhlathuze, where KwaZulu-Natal’s deep-water Port of Richards Bay has been earmarked as a future gas hub, to 1 000 MW – a threshold that will... →

TNPA recently selected a preferred bidder for a 25-year LNG terminal concession in the Port of Richards Bay's South Dunes precinct

Grid constraints cast shadow over South Africa’s seventh renewables bid window

By: Terence Creamer 17th January 2024 South Africa’s grid constraints are continuing to cast a shadow over the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP), the seventh bidding round for which was launched in December for 3 200 MW of onshore wind and 1 800 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) after months of... →

Independent Power Producer Office head Bernard Magoro

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