Новости за 26.01.2021

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has placed a £30-million contract with a consortium of aerospace companies, led by Spirit AeroSystems Belfast (a British subsidiary of major US aerospace group Spirit AeroSystems), for the development of an advanced technology high-speed uncrewed fighter aircraft prototype for the country’s Royal Air Force (RAF). The programme is designated the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (Lanca).

The chair of a new global commission established to offer governments guidance on making their energy transitions more “people-centred” says that the creation of green jobs and the transitioning of existing fossil-fuel labour forces into new sectors will be “key factors for a clean, just energy transition”. Danish Energy and Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen, who chairs the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) new global commission on people-centred clean energy transitions that is being led by Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen... Читать дальше...

Industry organisation the South African Liquor Brandowners Association (Salba) has called on government to be “transparent” in the reasons for its continued ban of formal alcohol sales, claiming also that Covid-19 cases are declining. “Government justified the current alcohol ban based on the projected rise in new Covid-19 cases. With the current downward trend in the number of new cases and a recovery rate of 87.6%, government has to explain why the current alcohol continues with no end date in sight,” said chairperson Sibani Mngadi.

The key to unlocking value of Kabanga Nickel and enabling the full beneficiation of new era metals in Tanzania itself is an environment-friendly hydrometallurgy process that eliminates smelting and thus slashes the need for electricity. The Kabanga Nickel Hydromet process takes ore to refined metals at lower capital and operating costs cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emission by 80% and eliminating sulphur dioxide (SO2) emission altogether.

The Ford Motor Company Fund is awarding the first grants from the Booth Schoch Future Success Fund to budding entrepreneurs at the Ford Resource and Engagement Centre (FREC) in South Africa.  The winners are all FREC programme graduates who will share $10 000 in grants to advance their businesses.

UK-based global industrial technology group Rolls-Royce issued a trading update on Tuesday. It covered the group’s 2020 unaudited results and its preliminary expectations for this year. (Full year results for 2020 will be released on March 11.) “Trading in December was broadly in line with expectations across all business units and we delivered good progress on our restructuring programme,” stated Rolls-Royce.

President Cyril Ramaphosa pleaded with richer countries, on Tuesday, to release their excess Covid-19 vaccines to countries that have yet to receive doses, voicing his concern about “vaccine nationalism”. Virtually, addressing the World Economic Forum, he noted that richer countries have acquired doses of up to four times their population, as many poorer countries battle to begin their vaccination programmes. He warned that vaccinating only some countries would not eliminate Covid-19, stating that all countries had to be vaccinated. Читать дальше...

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) holds “immense potential” for the social and economic development of Africa, as renewing the rules of trade will facilitate better cooperation to boost growth, reduce poverty and broaden economic inclusion, says the World Economic Forum (WEF) . AfCFTA, which was launched this month, is the world’s biggest free trade area and Africa’s most ambitious and recent effort to liberalise trade.

South Africa plans to launch three procurement rounds for 6 800 MW of renewable energy over the next year, as well as a combined 5 000 MW of new coal, gas and storage, a presentation by the governing African National Congress (ANC) showed. The presentation, made at a three-day meeting of party officials and allies that ended on Sunday and shared with Reuters by two sources, showed the ANC planned to launch the first renewables round in January or February for 2 600 MW of wind and solar, with another... Читать дальше...

The UK’s Bloodhound land-speed record (LSR) project is looking for a new owner to take the team through to its world land-speed record attempt in 2022.  In 2019, the Bloodhound team deployed to South Africa to conduct high speed testing, with the car hitting a peak speed of 1 011 km/h, thereby proving that Bloodhound has real record-breaking capability, says the team. The Bloodhound team now needs to install the Nammo monopropellant rocket, giving the car a top speed of more than 1 287 km/h.

State-owned electricity utility Eskom will make the case later this month for the immediate execution of a High Court order stipulating that an amount of R23-billion stripped unlawfully from its allowable revenue in 2019 by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa be added back during its 2021/22 financial year. Should it succeed, the standard average electricity tariff would rise by 15.6% on April 1, instead of the 5.01% already sanctioned by Nersa.

The US will ban entry to most non-US citizens who have recently been in South Africa in response to the new Covid-19 strain there, according to a White House official familiar with the plan. It’s unclear how long the restrictions will continue. The Biden administration will also continue restrictions on travel to the US from Brazil, the UK, Ireland and 26 countries in Europe that the Trump administration planned to relax as of Monday, said the official, who requested anonymity because the plans haven’t been made public.

President Joe Biden vowed on Monday to leverage the purchasing power of the US government, the world's biggest single buyer of goods and services, to strengthen domestic manufacturing and create markets for new technologies. The Democratic president signed an executive order aimed at closing loopholes in existing "Buy American" provisions, which apply to about a third of the $600-billion in goods and services the federal government buys each year. The order will make any waivers more transparent... Читать дальше...