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20 days for appeals but looking good for that. Would be great to see an RNS with confirmation of the approval and also details of contractors engaged.
@Alfa - I have emailed you at TPB with the documents I have received.
MadasHat
Notice is hereby given in terms of Regulation 4(2) of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2014, as amended (Government Notice No. R. 326) under Chapter 2 of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA, No. 107 of 1998) of the approval of the Environmental Authorisation (EA) issued by the Provincial Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT). The EA, dated 02 September 2019, is for the proposed development of a Vanadium Electrolyte Production Facility in the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ), Eastern Cape Province. Please refer to Section 4 of the attached EA which contains the “Reasons for decision”.
From Dispatch Live ( it's from 21 August so apologies if already posted)
An acceleration in economic growth in SA could trigger power cuts, with Eskom’s fragile generation system unable to respond to increased demand for electricity.
The energy availability of Eskom’s generation fleet is supposed to be as high as 80%, but is currently as low as 69%, and even a 0.1% rise in GDP could result in outages, Nelisiwe Magubane, an Eskom board member, said at an event organised by Afriforesight in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The state-owned entity (SOE), which supplies about 95% of SA’s power, has a mountain of debt and is reliant on government bailouts to remain solvent. It is also contending with operational issues — most of its power stations are nearing retirement age and have not been properly maintained, while the construction of two new plants are running years behind schedule and way over budget.
SA has experienced intermittent load-shedding since late 2005, a measure Eskom said was needed to prevent the national grid from collapsing. Outages have eased over recent months largely due to the poor performance of the economy — GDP slumped an annualised 3.2% in the first quarter, the biggest contraction in a decade.
“We haven’t seen load-shedding because demand is going south,” said Mike Rossouw, an independent energy adviser. “If demand picks up tomorrow, you will see load-shedding every day.”
Bloomberg
But the ANC is confident that unemployment can be reduced, with Magashule comparing the country to China, which has vowed to end poverty by next year.
From 5 June: "ANC to Cyril Ramaphosa: Halve the unemployment rate in five years"
Magashule said there was an industrialisation strategy in place to help unlock the economy, particularly in the automotive, clothing, gas, chemicals, plastics, RENEWABLES, steal, oceans economy and agriculture sectors, among others.
"We will get government to declare a three-shift economy to increase prospects of employment, especially among young people. Working together with labour and business, a three-shift system will result into an economy that does not sleep," said Magashule.
So it seems to me that Eskom is going to need renewables (and battery storage) to meet the ANCs plans to increase GDP as part of a plan to reduce unemployment in SA. Given Eskom is currently not load shedding pretty much only because the economy has contracted the Government will need Eskom energy supply rectified before other aspects of the strategy can be implemented. So it will have to happen sooner rather than later. BMN is going to be part of the solution. So Eskom really needs to get those tenders sorted out...
Maybe but given getting the facility built will take time (@BBN - what are your thoughts on that please?) I wouldn't expect these BE contracts to align with that - personally I would have thought the RNS that confirms the plant is operational would be more logical. Once built (or once construction has commenced) BE still need to apply for an Air Emissions License so once that is granted it is all systems go. In the meantime I believe Vanchem can be used to produce electrolyte so it may well be that BE contracts could more quickly be tied into that acquisition by 31 October?
@pb940, @BBN, @Ophidian et al
My contact does not have access behind the L2B paywall either but was approached by L2B and was therefore the source of the update to L2B - which was the same as provided to me i.e. the DEDEAT decision is being prioritised and would be provided within 2 weeks. This date actually took us to week ending 6th September (hence I can see why the 6th September is now showing in the date range for the project). Having discussed whether it would be published exactly on that date I took my own judgment (and it is possible it might be the next working day) I included the date of the 9th (thinking better to under promise and over deliver...!). So this update aligns with what I shared.
@bbn
I don't have a problem with being asked at all. However, I have spent some time building a relationship with someone closely involved in the process and like a journalist I don't think it right to expand on that to respect the information I have been given and the individual. I can evidence the submission dates from an email so would the best way be to email them TBP - not for publication- so these can get to you if you would like to see that?
Although you don't know me from Adam as the saying goes I hope you could trust me.
Fancy that...today's earlier trade (at a price of 20.90 when the stated ask at the time was 20.50) with a time stamp of 08:08 gets reversed out around 10.00 am this morning.
22-Aug-19 08:08:29 20.90 -95,269 Buy* 20.00 21.00 -19.91k O
That doesn't smack of anything does it...? Wasn't this tactic mentioned by Burford Capital?
@ Ophidian
I promised to keep you up to date on the EIA decision. The DEDEAT are prioritising this application now due to the delays with a site visit planned this week and are working to provide a decision in around two weeks so by around 9th September we should hear.
If I hear anything else in the meantime I will let you know.
MadasaHat
I had a chance meeting on a train journey to Manchester a couple of weeks ago with a guy from National Grid and he mentioned (as I moved the discussion to renewables and onto storage) that currently NG are evaluating green field sites next to power stations with a view to adding battery storage. I enthusiastically told him the only solution for that was VRFBs over Lithium Ion! Interestingly he knew little so I enlightened him with what knowledge I do now have.
NGs biggest challenge he mentioned was how to store and then transmit through the grid. Don't know about that but it seems logical and in line with your comments.
The article below published today was an opportunity missed re VRFBs despite the brief mention of battery storage at the end so I have contacted the DT to pick up with the journo.
"Energy customers paid £173m last year to turn wind turbines off
Energy customers were charged £173m to stop wind farms from supplying too much power in the 12 months to April and the figure could grow “exponentially”, experts have warned.
Known as “constraint payments”, these charges currently add around £6 to the bill of every household in Britain.
This payment makes up a large percentage of the Balancing Use of System (BSoUS) section you can find on your electricity bill. They are made by National Grid to incentivise wind farms to take back energy when more energy is generated than can be stored, usually as a result of higher wind speeds.
This problem has increased rapidly in recent years as more of Britain’s power has come from renewable sources. Just six years ago customers paid nothing in constraint payments. Half of the payment is paid by the electricity generator, with the other half paid by the energy suppliers and ultimately the households.
Energy generators subsequently raise the price, however, meaning the full amount is effectively passed on to customers.
Many of the payments are made to wind farms in Scotland, owned by the likes of Scottish Power and SSE, although there are many. Tom Edwards, of energy consultant Cornwall Insight, said "The issue is with the network, and in particular getting the electricity from where it is generated, to where it is needed.
“National Grid has plans to improve the network between Scotland and England but it will cost a lot of money and take time to build those links,” he said.
A National Grid spokesman said constraint payments were “the most economical way to run the system, significantly cheaper than the cost of building more infrastructure”. Ben Guest, a specialist in renewable energy companies at Gresham House, the fund group, warned that the bill to customers could exceed £1bn in the next few years as more wind farms were built. HE SAID ONE SOLUTION WOULD BE TO PROVIDE BATTERIES WHICH COULD STORE THE EXCESS ELECTRICITY UNTIL THE NETWORK COULD HANDLE ITS TRANSFER.
National Grid is not allowed to own batteries because of regulatory constraints, so the burden falls on the Government. Mr Guest questioned whether it was doing enough. “They are crossing their fingers and hoping batteries show up [from the private sector],” he said.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said: “Our renewable energy market is thriving – and we are investing heavily in battery technology to improve electricity storage, including through the £274m Faraday Battery Challenge and a £20m fund to develop large-scale alternatives to conventional storage.”
MadasaHat
@ Ophidian
The decision will not come today. This is nothing to do with the EIA itself and entirely to do with absences of key staff within the DEDEAT through maternity leave and long term sick (which appear to not have been backfilled), which has only just come to light as I understand it.
This was only confirmed to me this morning.