Month: October 2021

Posted on

Renewable energy preferred bidders announced

Twenty-five companies are expected to add at least 2583MW of energy to South Africa’s electricity grid once their renewable energy projects are complete, says Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe.

The 25 companies were named as successful bidders for the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE) fifth bid window of its Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement (REIPPP) Programme.

The 25 renewable energy projects are expected to inject at least R50 billion into the economy and create about 13 900 jobs during and after construction.

Mantashe cautioned that although this is a positive step for further securing electricity supply, the 25 chosen bidders will only add power to the grid once the projects are completed.

“Sometimes…we normally create an impression that if you open up a bid window, this weekend there will be electricity in the grid. It takes up to 36 months for electricity to be in the grid. The reason for that is that if you are announced as a winning bidder, you have to construct that capacity of energy.

“The immediate solution to our electricity supply challenges lies in getting existing plants to perform in a predictable and stable manner,” he said as he made the announcement on Thursday.

The DMRE is expected to also sign agreements for energy procurement for the shorter term.

“In addition, we have selected 11 preferred bidders totalling to 1995MW under the…emergency procurement of energy and these preferred bidders are expected to be connected to the grid within the next 18 months after signing the commercial agreement,” Mantashe said.

The department also expects to procure another 160MW of energy from existing renewable energy projects.

The Minister also moved to dispel reports that government had not added any extra power generation capacity to the grid.

“Since the promulgation of the first IRP [Integrated Resource Plan] in 2011, the DMRE has taken on a number of projects to supplement the power generation supply from Eskom. To date we have procured and signed agreements with 93 independent power producer projects totalling 7308MW. The total of these bid windows have already been connected to the grid and supply 6855MW [of energy]. This is equivalent to two Eskom six pack coal fired power stations,” he said.

Mantashe said the department will pursue financial close with the bidders over the next six months.

Bid window six is expected to open no later than January 2022.

Empowerment

On the empowerment front, Mantashe explained that economic empowerment targets for Black people – in particular Black women had been set and achieved.

In addition, bidders also committed to procuring components from local manufacturers during project builds.

“The bid window five set out a number of key economic development targets. The DMRE not only requires participation by Black South Africans at project level but also requires participation across the entire renewable energy value chain.

“We must begin to see real owners who are South African and who are Black and that process takes its own time and we are very patient with it,” he said.

“These projects will continue to make a big difference – not only in the lives of those communities in the vicinity of the proposed power plants who will own 2.5% of the preferred bidder projects – the preferred bidders have committed a total of R2.7 billion towards socio-economic development, enterprise and skills development initiatives over the 20 year lifetime of the projects,” he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Posted on

Load shedding implemented to ‘maintain power system stability’: Eskom

Power utility Eskom has assured the public that its power systems are not on the brink of collapse.

This as the utility implemented stage four load shedding earlier this week due to the loss of at least 15 000MW of energy at power stations.

“Load shedding is implemented as a last resort to maintain the stability of the power system regardless of the stage of load shedding as the power system remains to be effectively controlled.

“Eskom would like to assure the public that there is very low probability of a system collapse, and therefore, no cause for alarm,” the entity said.

Meanwhile, the power utility has downgraded load shedding to stage two today (Friday) after bringing some generation units back into service by Thursday evening.

“The Koeberg, Medupi, Kriel, Duvha, Kusile and Tutuka power stations returned to service, helping to ease the current capacity constraints. Unfortunately, during this time, a unit each at Majuba and Arnot power stations tripped while a single unit at Matla was forced to shut down.

“While this allowed space to reduce the utilisation of emergency generation reserves, it is, however, still insufficient to end the current load shedding. The next two days will be used to further improve the emergency reserves in preparation for the week ahead.”

Source: South African Government News Agency

Posted on

Lesotho Highlands Water Project to be fast tracked

The Ministries of Water in both South Africa and Lesotho have agreed to fast track phase two of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) to ensure security of supply to the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS).

This follows a meeting between Minister Senzo Mchunu, Deputy Minister Dikeledi Magadzi and Minister Kemiso Mosenene from Lesotho to discuss matters relating to challenges hindering the completion of the project, while agreeing on solutions to fast track its completion.

The meeting took place in Pretoria on Thursday.

The LHWP entails harnessing the waters of the Orange–Senqu River in the Lesotho highlands through the construction of a series of dams for the mutual benefit of the two countries.

Phase I of the LHWP was completed in 2003 and Phase 2 is presently underway.

“South Africa is a water scarce country, therefore, the completion of Phase 2 of the project has to be fast-tracked in order to augment the IVRS,” said Mchunu.

The project, the Minister said, should be successfully done by 2027 or earlier.

In agreement, Mosenene emphasised that Phase 2 of the project requires collaborated efforts and commitment from both governments.

“Water is life and no human being can survive without it. It is for this reason that the team working on the project bears in mind the needs of those that must be served with clean water. We all have to ensure that work is being carried out and done so effectively,” said Minister Mosenene.

Meanwhile, the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission committed to deliver a quality project within the set timeframe and budget allocated.

Magadzi emphasised the importance of adhering to the treaty and related protocols guiding the LHWP.

“We can only successfully complete this project if we continue to work hand in glove and with the same mandate in mind, which is the delivery of water to those in need,” Magadzi said.

The water transfer component of Phase 2 of the LHWP comprises approximately a 165-m high concrete faced rockfill dam at Polihali downstream of the confluence of the Khubelu and Senqu (Orange) Rivers and an approximately 38-km long concrete-lined gravity tunnel connecting the Polihali reservoir to the Katse reservoir.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Posted on

Government encourages South Africans to cast their votes

Government has reiterated its call to all registered South Africans to head to the polls in their numbers on Monday, 1 November, to elect councillors for all district, metropolitan and local municipalities in each of the country’s nine provinces.

Monday marks the sixth municipal elections held in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, as municipal elections are held every five years.

Speaking to SAnews, Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Director General, Phumla Williams, described elections as a way of celebrating the democracy that was attained in 1994 and it remains a journey that keeps being enriched by South Africa’s non-racial society exercising their democratic right to choose who should lead them.

The Director-General said that government is pleased that through the IEC it has been able to consistently make sure that it doesn’t fail the people of South Africa, by ensuring that every five years the public gets an opportunity to reflect on the leaders that were in place and what they want going forward.

“Voting is our democratic right. Our forefathers never enjoyed the right to choose who they should appoint or elect as their leader. We urge all South Africans to go out in their numbers and exercise this democratic right.

“To those who feel despondent, we say to you voting matters. Do not sit at home and deprive yourself the right to be a citizen of this country. A citizen who can bring about change as elections are about change. Elections are about somebody reflecting whether the previous leadership represented them. This is your right to correct and elect leadership that you think will do the right thing,” Williams said.

Government has also encouraged first time voters to go out in their numbers and vote as the future of the country lies in their hands.

Williams told SAnews that it was important for a first time voter to ensure that their voice was heard during these local government elections.

“The future belongs to the young and for me as a young person you still have a whole decade ahead of you and you want to inherit the government that you envisage. It is important as a young person to start taking an interest in who is going to govern this country, the country that you want to live in, the country that you want to have a future in,” she said.

She added that young people owe it to those who died to achieve this democracy to flock to the voting stations on Monday.

“The future is in your hands. You have to participate. You can’t just be on the fence because this is your future,” she told SAnews.

Security measures in place

The Director-General said that South Africans are guaranteed a safe and peaceful election as government has security measures put in place.

“On Monday our security cluster led by Minister of Defence, Thandi Modise, held a media briefing and assured South Africans that police and soldiers will be deployed in making sure that a conducive environment exists come Election Day.

“You will find the voting stations properly secured and all we need is you to present yourself and exercise your right to vote in an environment that the security cluster has assured South Africans that they will protect,” Williams said.

Collect your ID campaign

In a bid to accommodate those who would like to collect their identity documents (IDs) to enable them to vote on Monday, Williams said that Home Affairs is running the “collect your ID campaign”.

She said that the department has even extended its operating hours in order to also enable even those who work to collect their IDs.

“A number of South Africans may have either lost their ID or misplaced it. The Department of Home Affairs has extended operating hours so that whoever lost their ID is still able to go and collect.

“The other important matter is that a number of people have applied for their IDs but they have not collected them. This campaign by Home Affairs is to also appeal to those who may have registered or applied but have not collected their ID. The Home Affairs offices are open and we are urging that they go and collect,” she said.

Health protocols

With the elections taking place while the COVID-19 pandemic continues, government has urged all citizens to exercise the health protocols that are currently in place, such as the wearing of a face mask, practicing social distancing and sanitising their hands.

While citizens across the country will be heading to their respective voting stations, Williams said that she will also be casting her vote at Athlone Girls High School.

“I am going to vote and exercise my right. I am urging others to follow suite,” she said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Posted on

Gap Between Intent and Implementation in Workplace Safety Processes Persists, Sphera’s 2021 Safety Report Finds

Data from Sphera’s New Safety Report reveals that even though safety is part of the corporate culture, companies lack a well-defined roadmap to implement safety improvement measures.

CHICAGO, Oct. 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — While most companies have embraced safety as part of their corporate culture, there are still hurdles to overcome to improve their process safety and personal safety performance, Sphera’s new Safety Report reveals.

Sphera®, a leading global provider of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance and risk management software, data and consulting services, surveyed nearly 350 risk, process safety and health and safety professionals. Results show that while 75% of the respondents said that safety is part of their organization’s corporate culture, only 40% said they have a well-defined safety performance roadmap in place.

Safety is the foundation of any strong organization and a key component of ESG. According to Sphera’s Safety Report, creating a safety culture is just as important as being compliant, which has impacted the prioritization of performance safety drivers. Respondents indicated that the top three key safety performance drivers are reducing operational and major accident hazard (MAH) risk exposure (60%), regulatory compliance (48%), and corporate and board priority (37%).

Employer awareness of the safety hazards facing their workforce has been heightened during the pandemic. Over a quarter (27%) of respondents indicated that the adoption of centralized Health and Safety processes is lagging.

For five years, Sphera produced the highly anticipated Process Safety Management/Operational Risk Management (PSM/ORM) report exploring industry trends in process safety and operational risk management. However, with the 2021 report Sphera has expanded the overall safety landscape to include health and safety as well. While the occupational safety and health sector has especially felt pressure, companies across all sectors have had to make constant structural adjustments to keep workers safe.

“The pandemic has highlighted just how quickly safety and risk management processes can be thrown off balance. Safety in all its aspects makes for a resilient and sustainable business model, especially in an era when ESG goals are of the utmost importance,” said Sphera CEO and President Paul Marushka. “An effective safety culture and efficient safety process helps ensure a healthy workforce and enhanced business performance. However, we are still seeing a gap in how companies link safety and business performance, which highlights a need for a more holistic approach through data, software and expertise.”

Additional insights:
This year’s survey shows 51% of respondents pointing to limited resources, 43% to conflicting priorities and 31% to limited budgets as the main obstacles to delivering planned safety-critical maintenance and inspections, which has remained consistent. These leading indicators of the underlying problems preventing organizations from achieving improved safety performance and fewer incidents tie back to the gap between safety intent and safety implementation.

The Sphera Safety Report shows that there is still work to be done implementing risk monitoring practices that address the full spectrum of risks across organizational silos. Additionally, a little over half (56%) of respondents indicated that they still track critical safeguards/barriers manually, such as loss of containment and structural integrity, and a mere 19% said that these safeguards are monitored in real time. This further highlights the stronger ties between process and worker safety that emerged during the pandemic and the need for organizations to have a holistic view of safety and risk management.

About the Safety Survey
Sphera surveyed 349 risk, process safety, and health and safety professionals from a cross-section of global industries from across the world evaluating their safety standards for the 2021 Safety Report. Respondents came from several global industries, such as Manufacturing, Oil and Gas, Chemicals/Petrochemicals, Energy, Construction, Professional Services and Government.

About Sphera
Sphera is the leading provider of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance and risk management software, data and consulting services focusing on Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability (EHS&S), Operational Risk Management and Product Stewardship. Learn more about Sphera at www.sphera.com. Follow Sphera on LinkedIn.

For media inquiries or to request a copy of the report, please contact:
Denise Jones, Marketing Communications Manager, Sphera, [email protected]

Posted on

SeeUnity’s Echo Content Synchronization Product Enhancements Expedite Data Updates with Webhooks Option for Microsoft 365 and Filevine Integrations

DENVER, Oct. 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SeeUnity – An Anaqua Company, the leading provider of Application Programming Interface (API)-based content integration and migration solutions for on-premise and cloud-based Enterprise Content Management applications, today announces the release of a significant Echo Content Synchronization (Echo) product enhancement supporting events-driven synchronization via webhooks. This capability is less resource intensive and expedites the notification of content and metadata changes from cloud-based systems to another application, delivering real-time data updates to users.

Echo is a robust content synchronization engine that enables organizations to securely connect and sync data between a document management system and other external applications via API. Echo can sync content and content changes in one direction or bi-directionally on an ongoing and scheduled basis, allowing users to collaborate and access up-to-date content anywhere.

Using webhooks provides an alternative method for syncing data between applications. Webhooks deliver data over the web as changes (events) happen, versus relying on numerous API call requests for changes. API rate limits are often found with cloud-based systems, causing delays and bottlenecks. For customers that require frequent, numerous, and timely data updates, this means they’ll receive the information much faster and more efficiently utilizing webhooks.

“A full Echo API scan is still run periodically to catch events that may have been missed for normally occurring situations, such as internet glitches, downed systems, or database errors,” commented Dan Hunsinger, CTO at SeeUnity. “The combination of webhooks, with the full scan safety net, creates a solid, efficient, and reliable integration.”

Gene D’Aversa, Sr. Director of Knowledge Management & Technology Innovation, IT Department Husch Blackwell: “The adoption of cloud-based applications in the industry continues to rise, and with that comes its own set of intricacies for system integration and content synchronization. SeeUnity invests in the product enhancements and functionalities that meet market challenges and help support enterprise agility. Over the years, we’ve partnered with SeeUnity in an effort to continually modernize and streamline our IT ecosystem, providing our users with more efficient processes. The ROI impact of leveraging these integrations is significant, ultimately benefits our customers, and contributes to our success.”

The Echo webhook sync option for Microsoft 365 and Filevine is immediately available. The capability is being expanded to other cloud-based systems.

About SeeUnity – An Anaqua Company

SeeUnity has led the way in providing API-based enterprise content integration and migration solutions for legal tech and beyond since 2004. We’ve helped over 500 customers and 30 global partners streamline workflow processes, enable secure collaboration, and maintain Information Governance. Our 30+ connectors support most ECM, CRM, IPM, collaboration, and file sharing systems. Now an Anaqua company, SeeUnity has an even greater ability to accommodate expanding IT ecosystem connectivity needs. New connectors under development include: HR, Legal Matter Management, and finance systems. For a complete list of connectors or additional information, please visit https://seeunity.com, Twitter @SeeUnity or LinkedIn.

Press Contact
Jo Becker, Director of Marketing, SeeUnity
[email protected] | +1 970 776-8318

PDF available at: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/6f1dc9d9-6f16-40ed-984e-b550d3813794