With the fast growth in renewable energy in South Africa, universities will soon offer degrees which focus on this growing sector says MSC Artisan Academy’s Operations Director, Willie Gresse. Speaking to CNBC Africa at the Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) in East London, South Africa, Gresse says some of the country’s universities already offer short courses focusing on skill development for the renewable energy industry.

“Most of the major universities in South Africa at the moment, I believe, already have established renewable energy research centres. We, ourselves, train your electricians, your plumbers, and those type of trades that are involved in your traditional areas, and we re-skill them to understand the renewable energy environment,” says Gresse.

Based in East London, MSC Artisan Academy trains around 2 000 people every year across South Africa on how to operate Renewable Energy projects according to Gresse.

Situated in East London, a city in South Africa’s impoverished Eastern Cape Province, the IDZ currently oversees $180 million worth of Renewable Energy investments in various projects which have created 602 jobs.

South Africa has seen vast growth in the renewable energy sector since 2011 with many countries pouring in investments, including the United States which has invested $4.6 billion in previous years.

The Commercial Officer at the U.S Department of Commerce International Trade Administration, Mike Calvert, has projected investments of around $16 billion into South Africa’s renewable energy sector in coming years from the United States alone.

[Source: http://bit.ly/2antRkR]

Pretoria — The first phase in the expansion of the coal line between the Waterberg in Limpopo and Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal has been completed. “The project entailed the construction of a 1.8km long passing loop at Matlabas, enabling 100 wagon trains to cross without disrupting the operation of other trains on the line,” Transnet said on Thursday.

The investment has resulted in a significant increase in rail capacity, improved operational efficiencies and faster turnaround times. The project is a key aspect of Transnet’s plans to spend R21.8 billion over the next seven years to increase rail capacity on the export coal line to 81 million tons. The investment is in line with the company’s infrastructure investment programme, the Market Demand Strategy, which is aimed at creating capacity ahead of demand.

Rail capacity between Lephalale in Limpopo and Richards Bay Coal Terminal has increased from 400 000 tons to two million tons of coal per annum since the completion of the project.  “In addition, the loop has enabled Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) to increase its services from two trains to five a week, consistently without requiring more wagons. This improvement creates a high potential to run one train a day. Previously, Matlabas loop could only accommodate 50 wagon trains,” Transnet said.

[Source:  http://allafrica.com/stories/201607150664.html]

The recent reports of how Tegeta Resources – a company whose main shareholders include the Gupta-owned Oakbay Resources and the President’s son, Duduzane Zuma’s Mabengela Investments – has been able to secure a very favourable coal supply deal and have it pre-paid are deeply disturbing. Eskom is not just some failing state-owned enterprise like SAA; it represents our total electricity sector. It sits at the foundation of our economy. We simply cannot afford to have the multiple failures in corporate governance that should be obvious for all to see.

Of course, Eskom’s own responses to the reports, as well as those of Oakbay, have sought to defend the abysmal situation by pointing to apparently similar arrangements, including massive pre-payments, with other suppliers of coal in the past. So, when all plausible justifications are exhausted, the catch-all defence is that these types of cosy arrangements have been happening for a long time, so why is everyone so worked up about it now? Nazeem Howa, the CEO of Oakbay, is particularly fond of this type of argument and uses it whenever he can. Has the whole issue blown up just because, as he claims, vested white-owned business interests are threatened by a feisty newcomer to the sector that upends the way things have always been done?

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