New state of disaster heads to court
Labour union Solidarity appealed to a court to overturn the state of disaster declared by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to deal with the nation’s energy crisis.
The union is arguing that the electricity crisis does not meet the definition of a disaster in terms of the relevant legislation, existing laws can adequately manage the crisis, the declaration of a state of disaster does not serve a clear purpose, and there was improper political interference in declaring the decree, it said in a statement.
“The government itself is the cause of the electricity disaster, and it cannot declare itself a disaster, thereby obtaining extraordinary powers to address the disaster,” the union’s Chief Executive Officer Dirk Hermann said.
South Africa’s government will probably take on R140 billion of Eskom’s guaranteed debt in the fiscal year through March 2024, followed by an additional R50 billion rand and R30 billion, respectively, in the next two years as the power utility goes on to meet pre-determined financial and operational targets, RMB Morgan Stanley analysts led by Andrea Masia said in a note published Tuesday.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy will issue a request for proposals for 513 megawatts of battery storage by the end of the month, Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said in a speech to lawmakers.
It also plans to issue RFPs for 3,000 megawatts of gas-fueled generation by the end of the current financial year and up to 5,000 megawatts, subject to grid capacity availability for the so-called seventh bid window.
South Africa’s ongoing energy crisis has caused rolling blackouts, weakened the South African rand and forced the declaration of a state of disaster. An alternative asset manager is touting a new fund that it says will help alleviate that crisis and make investors a healthy return.
Grovest’s Twelve B Green Energy Fund will ultimately seek to deploy as much as R1 billion annually, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Miller said in an interview, while noting its current pipeline is about a 10th of that.
It will use the funds to invest in solar panels, inverters and batteries in residential complexes, commercial buildings and industrial buildings.
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