Новости за 25.03.2021

South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and National Research Foundation (NRF) have authorised R35-million to fund a new radio telescope to be located in the country. Designated the Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment (HIRAX), it will be built at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory reserve in the Karoo region in the Northern Cape.  HIRAX involves seven South African and five international partners (from Canada, Switzerland and the US) as well as 12 ‘collaboration members’ from Botswana... Читать дальше...

While there may be many challenges, Africa has the potential to leapfrog in terms of decarbonisation and to capitalise on opportunities presented by green hydrogen, African Hydrogen Partnership secretary general Vincent Oldenbroek has said. Speaking on the second day of a two-day green hydrogen conference hosted by industry association Africa Solar Industry Association (Afsia), he said economies on the continent could produce green hydrogen for use in the domestic market, as well as for export.

Despite Covid-afflicted 2020 emerging as the best-ever year for global wind-energy installations, a new industry report argues that the rate of yearly deployments will have to more than double before the end of the current decade if onshore and offshore wind generators are to make their rightful contribution to restricting the rise in the average global temperature to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC’s) newly released ‘Global Wind Report 2021’... Читать дальше...

The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) has invested R18.9-million in the development of two nanosatellites that will  be used to improve maritime domain awareness in South Africa. The investment is the first initiative in the country to provide satellite communication services to the maritime industry.

The South African economy and jobs market stand to benefit if South Africa can accelerate the growth and extend the reach of high-impact local entrepreneurs onto the global stage, says financial services company Discovery CEO and private sector initiative SA SME Fund chairperson Adrian Gore. Speaking at the launch of the Endeavor and SA SME Fund's Local Scale Up (LSU) programme on March 25, he said this was already happening through the LSU programme, which is focused on expediting the local and... Читать дальше...

Nonprofit organisation the Solidarity Fund has shifted its focus to Covid-19 vaccines as “the year has seen a lot of devastation”, CEO Tandi Nzimande said during a media briefing on March 25. However, while she was grateful that the fund had "been able to be part of the solution”, she emphasised that “every South African has a role to play to speed up the end of the pandemic”.

Tackling the ever growing issue of plastic pollution will require the collective effort of everyone in the plastics value chain, from manufacturers of raw materials that go into plastics, to the end consumers and recyclers, says World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Circular Plastics Economy project manager Lorren de Kock. In highlighting the growing urgency to stem the tide of plastics entering the natural environment, she says more ways need to be developed and implemented to reduce leakages of various forms of pollutants and that... Читать дальше...

JSE-listed real estate investment trust Vukile Property Fund will invest R90-million on a 2 000 square metre gross leasable area extension and modernisation at its Daveyton Mall, in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. CEO Laurence Rapp tells Engineering News that, as is Vukile’s way, the refurbishment of the mall is centered around its customers. The upgrade will comprise a glossy modern aesthetic and spaces to showcase the work of local artists.

South Africa’s Cabinet has approved the country’s updated draft Nationally Determined Contribution in response to climate change, which will be released for public consultation next week. The updated NDC outlines South Africa’s target for limiting greenhouse gas emissions as required in line with the country’s status as a signatory to the Paris Agreement on climate change. South Africa has committed to submitting its updated NDC to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ahead of the next round of climate negotiations... Читать дальше...

South African private-sector regional airline Airlink announced on Thursday that it was, with effect from April 1, increasing the number of flights on two of its regional services. The routes concerned are between Johannesburg and Maputo, Mozambique, and Johannesburg and Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  “Since launching the services linking Johannesburg with Maputo and with Lubumbashi last October and November respectively, we have seen a steady increase in passenger traffic... Читать дальше...

The sub-Saharan Africa trade fair for the automotive service industry is set to return to the Johannesburg Expo Centre, Nasrec, from March 15 to 18, 2022. Automechanika Johannesburg is collocated with Futuroad Expo, aimed at the truck, bus and commercial vehicle industry, as well as Scalex Johannesburg, which looks at digital integrated solutions in supply chains and logistics.

The business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for South African Airways (SAA) have issued a statement confirming that there had been an ‘Alpha Floor’ incident involving one of the airline’s aircraft on February 24. The aircraft, unidentified in the statement but reported to be an Airbus A340, was operating flight SA4272 to Brussels.  State-owned SAA is still under business rescue, a status in which it was placed in December 2019. Prior to going into business rescue, SAA operated a fleet of 49 aircraft... Читать дальше...

The Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF) has welcomed proposed amendments to the Pension Funds Act regulation 28 that will allow funds to elect to invest in infrastructure projects, says EPPF chief investment officer Ndabe Mkhize. The proposed amendments are aligned to the EPPF's investment objectives by providing risk-adjusted and inflation-sensitive returns, as well as supporting positive social and environmental impacts arising from investments in infrastructure.

The UK international climate finance programme, UK Climate Investments, has helped finance three renewable energy projects with a combined capacity of 254 MW in South Africa in South Africa. The inauguration of the 4 MW run-of-river hydropower facility Kruisvallei Hydro, in the Free State, on March 25 followed the successful delivery of the 110 MW Perdekraal East Wind Farm, in the Western Cape, in October 2020 and the 140 MW Kangnas Wind Farm, in the Northern Cape, in November 2020, UK Climate Investments notes in a statement.

Substituting rhodium with palladium is the next platinum group metals (PGMs) substitution investment that PGM mining and marketing company Sibanye-Stillwater intends making. Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman revealed this during a panel discussion at this week’s PGMs Industry Day virtual event covered by Mining Weekly. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

An elite team is set to tackle the monumental challenge of freeing the massive container vessel that’s blocking the Suez Canal, as a backlog of ships continued to build up for a third day in what is arguably the world’s most important waterway. Work to re-float the Ever Given and free up oceangoing carriers hauling almost $10-billion of oil and consumer goods was expected to begin early Thursday in Egypt. Tugs and diggers failed to budge the vessel on Wednesday, and dredgers are still trying to loosen... Читать дальше...

The Competition Tribunal has interdicted and restrained Facebook, WhatsApp and Facebook South Africa from removing GovChat’s WhatsApp-based citizen engagement platform from the WhatsApp platform for a period of six months. This follows GovChat and its subsidiary #Let’sTalk’s application for interim relief in January after Facebook threatened to remove GovChat from WhatsApp owing to alleged noncompliance with WhatsApp’s terms of use.

Civil rights and anti-corruption group Corruption Watch on Thursday expressed anger and sadness towards reports relating to corruption in the health sector, saying the corrupt took advantage of the public health crisis to loot the procurement necessitated by Covid-19 and even stooped as low as to steal from the various relief programmes. CW released its ninth annual corruption report, titled From Crisis to Action, reflecting the extent to which all organisations and individuals in South Africa witnessed... Читать дальше...