South Africa introduced guaranteed loans for small businesses and households to buy rooftop solar panels as part of efforts to alleviate the impact of unreliable power supply.
(Bloomberg) — South Africa introduced guaranteed loans for small businesses and households to buy rooftop solar panels as part of efforts to alleviate the impact of unreliable power supply.
Loans will also be made available to businesses in the rooftop solar supply chain and energy service companies, which provide leasing, instalment sale, and power purchase contracts to small businesses and households, Treasury said in an emailed statement.
The Energy Bounce Back Loan Guarantee Scheme aims to generate 1,000 megawatts in additional generation capacity and facilitate resilience to loadshedding, the local term for power cuts, for micro and informal businesses, Treasury said.
Read More: S. Africa Starts Energy Loan Guarantee Program for Small Firms
South Africa’s $8.5 Billion Climate Plan Sees Further Delays (Aug. 8, 2:24 p.m.)
South Africa’s government will need another two to three months to complete an energy transition implementation plan, further delaying the flow of funds from an $8.5 billion climate finance agreement with some of the world’s richest countries.Â
More work needs to be done on how to re-skill workers from coal-dependent communities as coal-fired plants gradually close down, said Joanne Yawitch, head of the project management unit for the pact within the South African presidency.Â
Read More: South Africa’s $8.5 Billion Climate Plan Sees Further Delays
Power Cuts May Cost South Africa $4 Billion in Taxes, BD Says (Aug. 8, 7:55 a.m.)
Intensified power cuts implemented by state electricity utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. may cost the government about 77 billion rand ($4 billion) in lost tax revenue, Business Day reported, citing Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.Â
The impact of rotational outages, known locally as loadshedding, on total economic activity may amount to 1.6 trillion rand, compared with 1.23 trillion rand in 2022, the Johannesburg-based newspaper cited Ramokgopa as saying.Â
Read More: Power Cuts May Cost South Africa $4 Billion in Taxes, BD Says
Shell’s Daystar Moves Into Power-Hungry South Africa for Growth (Aug. 8, 10:41 a.m.)
Shell Plc-owned Daystar Power is pushing into the South African market, where the solar provider expects rapid growth due to record power cuts.Â
Africa’s most developed market has seen a surge in alternative power systems as Eskom fails to meet demand. Daystar is opening offices in the commercial capital of Johannesburg less than a year after Shell bought the business.Â
Read More: Shell’s Daystar Moves Into Power-Hungry South Africa for Growth
Ex-Eskom CEO Heads to Yale (Aug. 7, 8:50 a.m.)
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. former Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter will take up a position as a visiting senior fellow at Yale University.
He will begin the role at the end of this month, De Ruyter said in an interview with Rapport, a Johannesburg-based newspaper. A focal point of his lectures will be the South African power utility’s green-energy program, known as the Just Energy Transition, he said.
De Ruyter, 55, headed Eskom for three years. He stepped down from the position in February after alleging in a TV interview that senior officials in South Africa’s governing African National Congress were involved in corruption at Eskom that was costing the utility about 1 billion rand ($54 million) a month.
–With assistance from Antony Sguazzin, Amogelang Mbatha, Loni Prinsloo and Paul Burkhardt.
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