An expected sharp fall in battery costs for energy storage in coming years will accelerate the shift to renewable energy from fossil fuels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. While renewable energy by itself is already much cheaper than coal and gas-fired plants, weather can interrupt solar and wind power and must be paired with energy storage systems to provide reliable sources of energy.

Zimbabwe is undergoing change and aims to attract more companies to do business in the country, but risks and challenges remain for businesses aiming to capitalise on the opportunities in the country. These were some of the views raised by Zimbabwean and international representatives during an information session on 'Doing business in Zimbabwe' hosted by the Southern African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry this week.

In response to Zambia's recent declaration of a national emergency owing to a severe drought affecting power generation, copper miner First Quantum Minerals is taking measures to ensure the continuity of its operations. Power utility Zesco has introduced daily eight-hour loadshedding for its retail customers and initiated consultations with mining companies to reduce power supply to the sector by 150 MW from May 1 to December 31. First Quantum’s operations are expected to have power curtailed by about 80 MW over this period.

With some of the most prominent and respected figures in the international energy sphere among the 24 speakers and panelists and more than 500 delegates at the Annual conference of the African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARDA) in Cape Town this week, among the biggest concerns is: how does Africa’s energy security survive along the road to Energy Transition? ARDA Executive Secretary, Anibor Kragha says that the continent’s energy security cannot be sacrificed to meet a fast-track global agenda for phasing out of fossil fuels in order to bring the international levels of emissions within the standards demanded.

Local developer and operator of clean energy infrastructure, Blue Energy Africa, has signed a 20-year deal with Borbet South Africa (SA) for the procurement of power from renewable-energy sources. Founded in 1962 by Peter Wilhelm Borbet, the family-owned company has five locations in Germany, as well as one each in Austria and South Africa, with the latter in Gqeberha.

Red Rocket, a South African independent power provider, hired Goldman Sachs Group to advise on the next steps for the closely held business – including a possible sale. Shareholders of the Cape Town-based company “have decided to explore strategic options,” for the business, CEO Matteo Brambilla said by email.

In this article, residential solar solutions provider GoSolr CEO and co-founder Andrew Middleton, writes that solar power has the potential to significantly reduce loadshedding, but patchwork policies, differing tariffs and a lack of incentives are stalling growth.

French multinational energy group TotalEnergies was committed to the energy transition and has a strategy for this, highlighted the group’s MD and CEO marketing and services and country chair and executive VP: Southern Africa Mariam Kane-Garcia on Tuesday. She was addressing a session of the African Refiners and Distributors Association 2024 conference, in Cape Town. The TotalEnergies transition strategy had two pillars, she pointed out. The first was ‘more energy, less emissions’, with fossil fuels. “We are not giving away our core business, which is oil and gas,” she noted. The second was the development of its low-carbon ‘Integrated Power’ business, which involved the deployment of renewable energy.

The Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) has installed and commissioned a combined equivalent of six independent microgrid power plants through the installation of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery storage at 27 prioritised health institutions across the province. The total combined capacity of these solar installations amounts to 6.3 MWh, while the combined battery storage component adds up to a total of 15.6 MWh. These have been installed at 11 public hospitals, nine primary health care clinics, and eight community healthcare centres throughout the province. A twenty-eighth facility will be integrated next month.

Diversified mining company Anglo American is taking steps to help to restore an Amazon rainforest equivalent of which less than 10% remains intact. The Mata Atlántica carbon forest is located near Anglo’s Minas-Rio iron-ore mine, in Brazil.