Green Economy Journal Issue 58

NEWS & SNIPPETS
NEWS & SNIPPETS
ENERGY BLOCK EXEMPTIONS
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition has published
the Energy Users and Energy Suppliers Block Exemptions. These
exemptions facilitate collaboration between companies to address
electricity supply constraints, by allowing them to engage in
activities normally prohibited under the Competition Act.
“These exemptions will enable energy suppliers and energy users
to increase and optimise supply capacity, reduce the cost of energy
or improve the efficiency of energy supply, and secure backup or
alternative energy supply in order to minimise the effects of the
current electricity supply constraints,” Minister Ebrahim Patel said.
“Reforms in the competition law effected in 2019 provides for more
flexibility when circumstances warrant it. The block-exemptions have
been used during the pandemic and in crises such as the July 2021
unrest, to enable competitors to cooperate to address shortages
of stock or facilities. This will now also be available to companies to
address the energy challenges,” he added.
6
SOLAR SITE PROTECTS TREES
Renewable energy company, Scatec, was involved in a massive
Quiver tree planting and re-planting operation at their Kenhardt
site in the Northern Cape.
This started after they were awarded the project under the
RMIPPPP. The site is currently under construction – and once it
reaches completion will have a total solar capacity of 540MW,
battery storage capacity of 225MW/1, 140MWh, and provide
150MW of dispatchable renewable power under a 20-year Power
Purchase Agreement.
With Quiver trees being on the national flora red list, Scatec’s
main objective was to execute an operation to preserve the Quiver
trees on site – and ensure an increase of the plant species in the
local habitat.
Scatec had a huge role to play to ensure that they preserve the
branching succulent plants in the Kenhardt area.
The Quiver tree is known to grow slowly and is habitat specific
– found in areas with extreme weather conditions. Climate change
has not made things easier for Quiver trees, as they are struggling
to grow as abundantly as they did in years gone by.
“Our Environmental license in the area gave us a very clear
mandate to protect these trees while we work. Replanting these
trees was never going to be an easy process. Scatec partnered
with a specialist team that helped them navigate the process,” says
Scatec’s sub-Saharan Africa executive VP Jan Fourie.
For every tree that was relocated, an additional ten Quiver Trees
had to be planted. The Quiver tree was not an easy find. A nursery
that stocked the special trees was in the Western Cape (where the
Scatec team had to apply for a permit to transport the Quiver trees
over the provincial border).
To date, the Quiver trees are growing into these beautiful and
succulent trees. The pictures do not do them justice, you just
must see them in real life. “When you are next in the Kenhardt
area, be sure to drive by the Scatec site to witness the beauty and
appreciate the effort that the team put into replanting the Quiver
trees to conserve them,” says Fourie.
SAWEA CALLS FOR GRID OPTIMISATION
If SA is to add the much-needed 5GW of new capacity to the
grid each year, solutions are needed to optimise the existing
transmission infrastructure capacity. The employment of
multiple improved energy mechanisms is required, if another
failed REIPPP bid window is to be avoided, says SAWEA.
“We have been engaged in efforts to tackle the issues regarding
access to the grid and the unlocking of grid capacity since early
2022, whilst urging key stakeholders to prioritise the transmission
build. However, more than a year later, having reviewed the 2022/3
Grid Connection Capacity Assessment (GCCA) report, our industry
is faced with the reality that the areas of highest wind resource
potential in the country are either already depleted or close to
being depleted in terms of available grid capacity – a sobering
reality that was already known before the last public procurement
bidding round,” says Niveshen Govender, Chief Executive Officer
of SAWEA.
“Following the Bid Window 6 upset, when not a single wind
project advanced to preferred-bidder status, owing to grid
constraints in the Cape provinces, it has become increasingly
important to understand the methods that were used to allocate
the grid capacity ensuring fair and transparent processes, so that
we can ensure access for both private and public procurement,”
added Govender.
The grid allocation rules need to be finalised to provide clarity
to the market and ensure further delays in allocating capacity
to projects are reduced. Other short-term measures include the
addition of the Battery Energy Storage Capacity Bid Window, that
will add a capacity totalling 1 230MW in two bid windows this
year; and the exploration of co-locating renewable technologies
across wind and solar.
By pairing power plants, a single transmission connection
point can be used more effectively, matching renewable energy
generation profiles with energy demand. “Beyond the economics,
international examples of energy planning demonstrate that
co-location is a viable consideration if we are to optimise the grid.
This is simply because wind production peaks in the late afternoon
and continues throughout the night, which compliments solar
production during the day, hence we can expect that developers
will seriously consider this, especially as it offers feasible cost
reductions that will benefit the country,” concluded Govender.
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Waste management
The Extended Producer Responsibility schemes have begun diverting waste from
landfill sites. DFFE’s Recycling Enterprise Support Programme has supported
56 start-ups within the sector providing over R300-million in financial support,
creating 1 558 jobs and diverting over 200 000 tons of waste from landfills.
Marine living resources
DFFE intends to finalise the allocation of 15-year fishing rights to small-scale fishing
communities in the Western Cape by October 2023. This will enable a further 3 500
declared traditional small-scale fishers to participate in the ocean’s economy.
Climate change and air quality
SA’s mitigation and adaptation architecture is at an advanced stage. Cabinet has
approved a framework to determine emissions allocation to industrial sectors for
the 2023-2027 mandatory commitment period. DFFE is developing carbon budget
regulations that will address the processing of mitigation plans to be submitted
by industry. Besides assisting 44 district municipalities, DFFE is working with nine
provinces, to review their existing climate change plans to align with the draft
Climate Change Bill.
There is a project pipeline of 9 789MW for renewable energy applications
[2 899MW: solar, 6 890MW: wind]. These include battery energy storage systems
and associated transmission and distribution infrastructure.
Decision-making timeframes have been reduced from 107 to 57 days.
Grid capacity is a national priority to solve. DFFE is considering delays in
decommissioning aging coal-fired power stations.
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