Новости за 05.11.2021

The South African wine industry is calling for conducive policy decisions that will create an enabling environment to achieve sustainable growth for South Africa and the wine industry. “Key for South Africa, and the wine industry, emerging from the precarious position it finds itself in lies in sustainable growth.

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) met with small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) in Indwe and Elliot, in the Eastern Cape, at the start of November to discuss the economic benefits and job opportunities its special maintenance project on the R56 national road would create. Sanral is investing R485-million into the R56 road, upon which the special maintenance project will take place from Indwe to Elliot, and from Elliot to Maclear in 2022.

State-owned Armaments Corporation of South Africa (Armscor) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) that will see Armscor assist ATNS with evaluating and configuring projects or programmes and contract management in the communication, navigation, surveillance and information technology areas for three years. “We are ready to use our expertise and experience to provide ATNS with quality services. The aim is to add value and help them achieve... Читать дальше...

Platinum group metals (PGMs), which are hosted overwhelmingly in South Africa, have played a key role in rocketing the performance of local alkaline electrolysers, in which PGMs are not generally used. Hydrox Holdings of Randburg, which has been pursuing hydrogen solutions for more than two decades, has achieved a wonderfully cost-effective hydrogen generation breakthrough in which PGMs feature in an alkaline technology advance in a highly effective manner, Hydrox  CEO Corrie de Jager outlined to Mining Weekly in a Zoom interview. Читать дальше...

The Namibian government has stolen a hydrogen march on its larger neighbour South Africa announcing at COP26 the selection of HYPHEN Hydrogen Energy as the preferred bidder for a $9.4-billion green hydrogen project to be developed in the Tsau //Khaeb National Park, near the coastal town of Luderitz, in southern Namibia. HYPHEN is a joint venture between Nicholas Holdings Limited, a strategic investment and infrastructure project developer, and ENERTRAG South Africa, a unit of an independent German... Читать дальше...

The Department of Water and Sanitation and the Witzenberg local municipality on November 5 turned the sod at the R48-million Tulbagh bulk water supply project, in the Western Cape. The municipality experienced serious water problems during the 2004/5 drought period, specifically in the town of Tulbagh.

DP World Maputo has developed and implemented a new supply-chain solution that provides Southern African importers of fertiliser and similar commodities with an option to use the Maputo Corridor.  The new solution presents an opportunity for South African fertiliser importers to take advantage of the high trucking capacity returning empty to South Africa, explains DP World Maputo.

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) on November 5 said it was concerned about the persistent tampering with State-owned Transnet's pipelines to steal fuel. It has also called on municipalities and landowners to cooperate with law enforcement agencies to prevent encroachment on servitudes critical infrastructure traverses.

Power utility Eskom has announced that load-shedding will move to Stage 4 from 14:00 on Friday to 05:00 on Saturday. "Stage 4 load-shedding is necessary to stop the use of open-cycle gas turbines (OCGT) generators in order to preserve the remaining fuel at these power stations," it said, noting that fuel at the OCGT stations were critically low.

When a social media site throws out an advert for a product you were just discussing over the phone, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that ‘they’ must be listening, says Aura CEO and co-founder Warren Myers. The truth, however, is that the site employed artificial intelligence (AI) to predict your behaviour.

A request for information (RFI) has been issued to assess the implementation options and market appetite for the creation of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import hub at the Port of Ngqura, in the Eastern Cape. The RFI is designed as an information gathering exercise to inform a future procurement programme and a deadline of 12:00 on December 3 has been set for responses.

A 10 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant developed by renewable energy plant developer SOLA Group, in the Northern Cape, has reached commercial operation three months ahead of schedule, providing clean energy to Amazon Web Services through wheeling into the Eskom grid. The plant comprises over 24 000 bifacial single-axis sun-tracking modules, covering an area of 20 ha.

The City of Johannesburg is considering waste-to-power projects to generate electricity, particularly in times of load-shedding. Environment and Infrastructures Services deputy director Mvuselelo Mathebula mentions in a press statement that key projects have been lined up to divert waste from landfill sites by recycling and using it to generate electricity.

Kazakhstan Paramount Engineering (KPE) reports that its flagship and next-generation Barys 8X8 infantry combat vehicle (ICV) has successfully completed a four-year series of trials conducted by the Ministry of Defence of Kazakhstan, bringing the vehicle a step closer to its first production order. KPE is a joint venture between South Africa-based aerospace and technology company Paramount Group and Kazakhstan-based defence and engineering company Kazpetromash.

Stage 2 load-shedding will start at 11:00 on Friday, Eskom announced Three units at the Kendal power station were taken off and it is anticipated that the fourth and remaining unit will also be shut down. The conveyor belts supplying these units are currently not running due to a power fault.

The first partial skull of a Homo naledi child, Leti, has been found in a remote passage of the Rising Star cave, in Johannesburg, by a team of international researchers led by University of the Witwatersrand Lee Berger. Two papers have been written about the discovery of parts of the skull and teeth of the child that died almost 250 000 years ago when it was about four to six years old. The child’s skull was found alone and no remains of its body have been recovered. Berger says that work is continuing... Читать дальше...

Creamer Media's Chanel de Bruyn speaks to Engineering News Editor Terence Creamer about the latest energy sector developments, including load-shedding, new procurements, a climate-finance announcement and the creation of a new energy council.

Diversified miner Exxaro Resources, geared with both a Sustainable Growth and Impact Strategy and A Climate Change Response Strategy, hopes to garner investor interest at this year’s COP26 climate change summit.    The company has been setting out to become a principal driver of the just energy transition in South Africa over the past few years, all while targeting carbon neutrality by 2050.

A video round up of this week’s magazine, highlighting our cover story, features and Business Leader.