Proconics' expertise aligns with national projects and is poised to contribute to Eskom’s Transmission Development Plan. Engineering Firm Proconics was among the 14 companies that joined the Eskom Transmission Owner’s Engineer (OE) Panel at a recent signing ceremony event held at Eskom headquarters in Megawatt Park.

A new process being pioneered by energy companies such as Israel-based Helios and Netherlands-based Alkalium proposes the use of sodium metal rather than coal or hydrogen to refine iron-ore into direct reduced iron (DRI). Traditionally, iron is beneficiated by mixing iron-ore fines with coal. The iron oxide (Fe2O3), when heated in a furnace, undergoes a chemical transformation whereby the oxygen molecules from the Fe2O3 bind with the carbon molecules in the coal, creating carbon dioxide (CO2) as a by-product and leaving pure iron behind.

Engineering News editor Terence Creamer discusses South Africa's plans to stimulate local manufacturing around solar, wind and batteries.

Amid the country’s water crisis, packaged wastewater treatment plant service provider Calcamite highlights the importance of treating wastewater and reintroducing it to the environment.  Calcamite, as a subsidiary of JoJo, adds that water placed back into municipal systems should be of the highest standard. 

South Africa’s current electricity transmission grid is generally constrained in the Cape provinces and unable to facilitate the connection of new utility-scale generation including that from solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind, says wind and solar energy facility developer JUWI Renewable Energies. Historically, the majority of South Africa’s electricity supply was provided by coal power stations, the majority located in Mpumalanga, with the power transmitted to the major load centres including those in the Cape. The national transmission grid is still set up in this way, despite the introduction of large-scale renewables, as the cost and time to upgrade this infrastructure is onerous.

The growing demand for clean energy technologies is anticipated to drive an increase in production of minerals, such as graphite, lithium and cobalt, with a portion of this demand being able to be met through the remining of tailings dumps containing those minerals, reports mine modelling solutions company IMDEX. International financial institution the World Bank estimates that more than three-billion tonnes of minerals and metals will be needed for the wind, solar, geothermal power and energy storage requirements of projects to be built to meet carbon reduction targets.

Development finance institution African Development Bank (AfDB) group president Dr Akinwumi Adesina has called for a major political commitment to kick-start construction work on the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) giant Inga 3 dam, which has the potential to meet the power needs of more than a dozen countries in Central and Southern Africa. “We have been talking about Inga 3 for many years . . . What we need is political coordination,” Adesina told members of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) board –  which is led by chairperson Ebrahim Rasool –  during a recent meeting at the AfDB’s headquarters in Abidjan.

The recent period of decreased loadshedding has been met with tremendous scepticism by a South African public who have been burnt more times over the past 15-plus years than a lump of wet coal. Most distant observers attribute the reprieve purely to the upcoming May 29 poll, and fully expect a return of intense power disruptions once the electoral dust has settled.

Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has tabled a R76.4-billion draft budget for the city for the 2024/25 financial year. The budget proposes record infrastructure investment of R12.1-billion for the year, and nearly R40-billion over the next three years.

In an era marked by escalating climate concerns and the urgent need for sustainable energy solutions, the power transmission landscape is witnessing a profound revolution. At the forefront of this transformation is the increasing integration of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power into the grid. This article delves into the multifaceted aspects of the grid services revolution, exploring challenges, strategies, market dynamics, policy frameworks, case studies and future outlooks, showcasing how these elements collectively pave the way towards a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.