Новости за 09.04.2024

There's no climate solution without hydrogen. It’s the missing piece of the clean energy puzzle, says a global CEO-led initiative that brings together leading companies with a united vision. From 13 leaders at its World Economic Forum launch in 2017, the Hydrogen Council has ballooned to 150 multinationals companies representing the entire value chain of hydrogen, which is planet earth’s most abundant element, as well as being renewable and non-polluting.

State-owned Transnet Pipelines has welcomed the conviction of two fuel theft perpetrators by the Newcastle regional court, in KwaZulu-Natal, on April 8. This follows an operation conducted by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), in collaboration with local law enforcement, resulting in the apprehension of four suspects involved in crude oil theft at a Transnet pipeline near the Karbochem factory, in Newcastle, in July 2021.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has rebranded for the first time in 60 years since its establishment, revealing its new name – UN Trade and Development. The rebrand underscores the organisation’s commitment to greater impact with a new, clearer visual identify aiming to better reflect its work and values.

Green hydrogen development company Hyphen Hydrogen Energy is investing €2-million on its MetMast Measuring Campaign, which makes use of meteorological masts (MetMasts) to precisely model the energy yield of the wind and solar resources to enable the optimised design of a project it is developing near Lüderitz, in Namibia. The investment includes the deployment of ten new MetMasts and the refitting of one mast it acquired from Namibian power utility NamPower.

The global representative body for the airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has released its latest report on how the industry can reduce its environmental impact. This report is entitled ‘Reassessing Single Use Plastics Products in the Airline Sector’ and seeks to mitigate the impacts of the employment of single use plastic products (SUPP) in the airline supply chain. (The report was prepared by IATA with the assistance of Travel Without Plastic and WRAP.) ...

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Tuesday denied that his department has cancelled the Critical Skills Work Visa, emphasising its importance. He said the department was “worried” about rumours around this, also noting confusion between the General Work Visa and the Critical Skills Work Visa.

Rolls-Royce, the UK-based global major power and propulsion systems group, has announced that it is partnering with Switzerland-based carbon dioxide and dry ice company ASCO Carbon Dioxide (ASCO) and UK-based clean energy transition enterprise Landmark Power Holdings (LMPH) to develop scalable solutions for clean power generation. Specifically, they will work together to develop solutions for carbon capture from Germany-based Rolls-Royce Power System’s mtu-brand gas-powered reciprocating engines. Читать дальше...

Turbine manufacturer Nordex Energy South Africa (NESA) says an additional 830 MW of operational capacity will start feeding into South Africa’s energy grid by mid-2025. The company on April 9 announced a 75% increase in its generation capacity in operations, as well as plans to locally manufacture concrete tower sections in the Eastern Cape.

The City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ’s) Development Planning Department has promulgated the recently reviewed municipal planning by-law. The provisions of the reviewed by-law enable the city to simplify procedures and processes for land development applications, mechanisms to provide engineering services and collection of development contributions.

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa reports that a “degree of convergence” has been reached between his Ministry and the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) regarding private sector participation in the electricity grid and no further Cabinet approval is required ahead of implementation. Speaking at one of his regular updates on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan, Ramokgopa said Cabinet had given its approval for him to proceed, together with the NTCSA, on finalising... Читать дальше...

Electric vehicle charging startup, Zero Carbon Charge, has launched a new subsidiary, Zero Carbon Logistics, which it says will roll out 120 off-grid solar photovoltaic (PV) electric truck charging sites on national highways across South Africa. According to Zero Carbon Charge, the project will kick off with the construction of an initial six sites to be built on the N3 between Durban and Johannesburg.

Five grocery retailers, including South Africa’s Shoprite group, have established a venture fund called W23 Global. W23 Global brings together Ahold Delhaize (US, Europe, Indonesia), Tesco (UK, Europe), Woolworths Group (Australia, New Zealand), Empire Company/Sobeys (Canada) and Shoprite Group (Africa).

Trade unions and industry associations expect negotiations at the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC), which are set to start on April 10, in Boksburg, to be tough. Trade union Solidarity says the negotiations will be challenging because of an agreement that was reached during the Covid-19 pandemic period. In terms of that agreement, salary increases were only calculated on the minimum salary scales per job grade, which disadvantages skilled employees on the higher ...

State-owned electricity utility Eskom will reduce planned maintenance to 3 000 MW during the upcoming winter season and will seek to keep unplanned breakdowns to below 14 000 MW in a bid to navigate the high-demand period with limited loadshedding. During the summer period, from September to the end of March, the utility  set a target of restricting unplanned breakdowns to 14 500 MW during the high-maintenance summer months, when average planned maintenance levels of 7 000 MW were targeted.

Telecommunications groups MTN Group and Vodacom Group have secured the top two spots in the latest Brand Finance survey. Despite an 8% decrease in brand value to R68.2-billion, MTN Group maintained its position as South Africa’s most valuable brand, while Vodacom, increasing its brand by 10% to R43.9-billion, narrowed the gap between the two operators as it maintained the number-two spot.

Food and clothing retailer Woolworths has launched a 12-store trial to remove plastic barrier bags from its stores. Starting on April 8 in four Western Cape-based stores, namely Table Bay Mall, Waterstone Village, Plattekloof Village and Palmyra Junction, the eight-week trial will extend on April 15 to an additional eight stores across the Western Cape and Gauteng.

Zimbabwe’s new currency, the ZiG, strengthened a day after its debut, the central bank said. The currency gained 0.2% to 13.53 per US dollar, according to data published on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s website on Tuesday.

London- and Botswana-listed diamond company Botswana Diamonds is going to apply artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to its Botswana database, the company said on Tuesday, April 9. Involved are 380 gigabytes of data and 260 000 files in what is described as the country’s second largest diamond exploration information set.