Month: July 2023

Tourist arrivals to Cape Town in 2023 exceed pre-pandemic levels

The tourism sector continues to shine in the Western Cape with tourist arrivals via air to Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) in the first six months of 2023 exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

In addition, international two-way passengers remained strong between January and June 2023, reaching 1.4 million, exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 104% and growing by 76% year-on-year.

This is according to the monthly tourism report, compiled by the Western Cape Government’s official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency, Wesgro.

“The tourism and hospitality sector continues to show remarkable resilience and growth in the Western Cape and is cause for celebration. Despite suffering greatly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to see that we have moved beyond recovery and into growth, contributing to job creation in the province.” said Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger.

Other highlights from the report include:

3.2 million domestic two-way passengers passed through CTIA between January and June 2023, representing a year-on-year growth of 9%;

George Airport two-way passengers reached 374,463 between January and June 2023, a 3% year-on-year increase compared to January to June 2022;

Between January and June 2023, 90% of tourist arrivals via air originated from overseas markets and 10% from the African continent;

The United Kingdom led as the top source market to Cape Town (via air) between January and June 2023, closely followed by USA, Germany, Netherlands and France in the top 5 positions;

The European market remains the largest contributor to tourist arrivals into Cape Town, with 6 out of the top 10 source markets originating from the continent;

Footfall to 24 participating attractions across the six regions of the Western Cape recorded a total of 271,653 visitors in June 2023, a 16% year-on-year growth in the number of visitors when compared to June 2022 and 65% of what it was in June 2019; and

The top 5 highest year on year growth rates in June 2023 were recorded for Cape Agulhas Lighthouse (92%), Table Mountain National Park: Boulders (61%), Bontebok National Park (60%), Cango Caves (42%) and Table Mountain National Park: Cape of Good Hope (36%)

Minister Wenger continued: “Attracting more tourists to our destination forms part of one of the Priority Focus Area’s of the Western Cape Government’s ambitious new economic action plan, ‘Growth For Jobs’ because more tourists mean more jobs. Recently this objective has received an impressive boost with great publicity generated by our stunning vineyards which featured in the world’s best.”

“Working with tour stakeholders, including the private sector, we will continue to ensure that the Western Cape remains top of mind for both international and domestic tourists and I look forward to what promises to be another impressive summer season in the province.” concluded Minister Wenger.

Media enquiries:

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Source: Government of South Africa

Projects are underway to upgrade Eskom’s infrastructure in the areas of generation and transmission in effort to increase their capacity and resolve load shedding.

Addressing a media briefing on Sunday, Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said 25 projects to upgrade the existing transformers and increase their capacity are currently in construction.

“We are talking about 25 projects that can unleash about 13 gigawatts of electricity into the grid. The work starts now to be connected by 2026 to ensure there is additional capacity. We need to ensure we expedite the projects and bring them quicker online so we can expand the grid capacity.

“These are the twin challenges [generation and transmission] that we are facing at the moment and we must resolve to address load shedding. Of course, the issue of distribution must receive attention,” the Minister said in Pretoria.

In addition, Eskom has identified 22 projects that can provide 24 gigawatts by 2033.

The concentration of these projects is in the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape, as the coastal areas have the highest wind speed.

“From the Northern Cape, we can get about 5 845MW. In the Eastern Cape, we can get 5 875MW and 8 954MW in the Western Cape. Eskom will need R100 billion going into the 2025 financial year and by 2029, we will need about R170 billion.

“The Eskom balance sheet will not be sufficient to finance this. We need alternative sources of financing and that is the work we are doing,” the Minister said.

Grid capacity

Ramokgopa also gave an update on the Energy Availability Factor for the week 24 July – 28 July 2023.

“During this week in question, we had a peak on 25 July, where we had capacity available to the tune of 29 376MW.

“This energy availability is the sum of a number of elements, which include planned outages.

“On Friday (28 July), we had the highest of that period with 4 126MW. That represents 1 600MW above what we had projected for our planned outages for the winter period.

“When the planned outages are up, it means that we are doing everything that is possible in an orchestrated fashion to ensure we are able maintain the units and when they return, hopefully they will be more resilient and overtime, it will improve the capacity available,” the Minister said.

Ramokgopa said the albatross remains the capacity loss factor, where units fail as a result of a multiplicity of factors.

“The principle reason… is boiler tube leaks. They are a big contributor to the failure rate. In the context of the winter outlook, the best case scenario was that the unplanned loss capability factor would be about 15 000MW and the worst case scenario was that it would be about 18 000MW.

“We are just shy of 16 000 MW. It is an area that is receiving our attention. The partial load losses simply means that the units are producing but not at the desired level. This is at 6 340MW. We want to improve their efficiency so that they are able to perform better and give us a significant number of MW,” the Minister said.

Eskom is working on reducing the unplanned capability loss factor (UCLF). We want to improve the performance of the units by reducing the partial load losses. When you bring those together, they add to the available capacity. Those are the areas that we are tracking,” he said.

Ramokgopa assured citizens that Eskom is working hard ensure the country does not go beyond Stage 4.

“On outage slips, this is one area that we are seeing significant improvement. It almost halved from 3 476 MW. We are at 1 843MW. This is a function of planning and management. It has received extended attention by various station managers. This is one area that I am confident that we will continue to see major strides going into the future,” the Minister said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Energy Regulator says it agrees with the draft ministerial determination to procure 1 000MW of new generation capacity from the Cross-Border Procurement agreement.

“New generation capacity must be procured or purchased to contribute towards energy security and accordingly, up to 1 000 megawatts (MW) should be procured from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region from a range of technologies/sources,” the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) said on Friday.

The energy regulator explained that this programme is implemented in order to close the widening energy gap, as articulated in the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity 2019 – 2030 (published by Government Notice No. 1360 of 18 October 2019 in Government Gazette No. 42784) (‘the IRP 2019’), and as is currently being experienced in South Africa.

“The energy regulator said the energy capacity shall be procured from a range of energy producers from the region.

“The range of energy producers from the region will either be utilities from the host countries or independent power producers that are legally operating within the host countries,” NERSA said.

The energy capacity shall be procured by Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd and shall entail: the procurement of electricity through one or more processes that are fair, equitable, transparent, and cost-effective, and the form of which shall be determined by Eskom; and the conclusion of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in respect of the electricity, for which the duration will be agreed upon between Eskom and the energy producers from the region.

“The electricity procured or bought shall target the South African Grid as soon as reasonably possible, considering all relevant factors, including prevailing energy security risks and the time required for efficient procurement,” Nersa said.

In addition, the Energy Regulator concurred with the draft ministerial determination for the procurement of 2 000MW of new generation capacity from the Load Shedding Reduction Programme.

As part of the programme, up to 2 000MW should be generated from a range of energy technologies/sources in accordance with the short-term risk mitigation capacity allocated under the heading ‘Other’, for the years 2025 to 2028 of the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity 2019 – 2030 (published by Government Notice 1360 of 18 October 2019 in Government Gazette No. 42784) (‘IRP 2019’).

The programme requires that the new generation capacity is established from energy generated from independent power producers.

The electricity produced from the new generation capacity (‘the electricity’) shall be procured by Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd and shall entail: the procurement of the electricity through one or more processes that are fair, equitable, transparent, and cost-effective; the form of which shall be determined by Eskom, and the conclusion of power purchase agreements (PPAs) in respect of the electricity, which PPAs shall be aligned with short-term power purchase agreements.

“The electricity procured or bought shall target connection to the Grid as soon as reasonably possible, taking into account all relevant factors, including prevailing energy security risks and the time required for efficient procurement,” the energy regulator said.

The Energy Regulator also concurred with the draft ministerial determination for the procurement of 800MW of New Generation Capacity from the Emergency Procurement Programme as follows:

New generation capacity must be procured or purchased to contribute towards energy security. Accordingly, up to 800 megawatts (MW) should be procured from a range of energy technologies/sources in accordance with the Emergency Generation Procurement Programme allocated under the heading ‘Other’, for the years 2029 to 2030, in Table 5 of the Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity 2019 – 2030 (published as Government Notice No. 1360 of 18 October 2019 in Government Gazette No. 42784) (‘the IRP 2019’).

The new generation capacity shall be procured from a variety of local generators, including independent power producers (IPPs).

The electricity shall be procured by Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd and shall entail: the procurement of the electricity through one or more processes that are fair, equitable, transparent, and cost-effective, and the form of which shall be determined by Eskom; and the conclusion of power purchase agreements (PPAs) in respect of the electricity, which PPAs shall be aligned to the short-term power purchase agreements; and

The electricity procured or bought shall target connection to the Grid as soon as reasonably possible, considering all relevant factors, including prevailing energy security risks and the time required for efficient procurement

The Energy Regulator noted the approved draft Reasons for Decision on the concurrence with the section 34 ministerial determinations for the procurement of 3 000MW of Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) and 1 000MW Standard Offer Programme (SOP) by Eskom.

The detailed Decisions and Reasons for Decision documents regarding the above decisions will be available on the NERSA website at www.nersa.org.za in due course.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Energy Regulator has approved that the National Transmission Company of South Africa (SOC) Limited (‘NTC’) be issued with a licence to operate a transmission system within the national boundaries of the Republic of South Africa.

“This is a milestone decision by the Energy Regulator and will immensely contribute in Eskom’s unbundling trajectory,” National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) Chairperson, Thembani Bukula, said on Friday.

At the 2019 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd would be unbundled into three wholly owned entities: Generation, Transmission and Distribution.

“The NTC is envisioned to be an independent transmission system operator incorporating, inter alia, the currently non-licensable but integrated functions of network provision, system operation and system planning.

“The NTC’s independence is an important signal to all stakeholders, including investors that they will have non-discriminatory access to the transmission system,” NERSA said.

Furthermore, the NTC is responsible for ensuring grid stability, to which end, it is allowed to buy and sell power, but not for profit.

“However, in terms of section 15(1) of the Act, the NTC will be afforded the opportunity to recover its efficiently incurred costs and a reasonable return on its assets. The Energy Regulator understands that the aforementioned provisions are both within the ambit of the Act and enable the NTC to be operationalised as an independent and reliable transmission system operator,” NERSA said.

The NTC a wholly owned subsidiary of Eskom, which was established as per the Government objectives and in alignment with the Department of Public Enterprises’ (DPE’s) ‘Roadmap for Eskom in a Reformed Electricity Supply Industry’ (‘the White Paper’), issued on 29 October 2019.

The NTC will operate the transmission system and perform the following key integrated roles to ensure the integrity of the interconnected power system (IPS):

Transmission Network Service Provider (TNSP)

System Operator (SO)

Transmission System Planner (TSP)

Grid Code Secretariat

The NTC’s licence application was processed following due regulatory process, including a public hearing that was conducted on 11 April 2023.

“All presenters that made oral presentations during the public hearing supported the application. NERSA analysed the application to assess whether it meets the minimum requirements for licensing as contained in section 10(2) of the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (Act No.4 of 2006) – the Act. The application was found to meet the licensing requirements,” the energy regulator said.

Generation licence application by Ngonyama Solar

The Energy Regulator approved that Ngonyama Solar (RF) (Pty) Ltd be issued with a generation licence as the sixth preferred bidder of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s (DMRE’s) Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) Bid Window Six (BW6).

On 3 March 2023, Ngonyama Solar (RF) (Pty) Ltd was announced as the sixth preferred bidder, with a contracted capacity of 140 MW.

This brings the total contracted capacity for BW6 to 1 000 MW for solar projects.

“Ngonyama Solar’s preferred bidder status letter was issued on 13 March 2023. Ngonyama Solar applied for a generation licence in accordance with section 7 of the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006, which requires that no person may operate a generation facility without a licence issued by the Energy Regulator.

“NERSA analysed the application and found that it met all the licensing requirements. There were no objections received to the application,” the energy regulator said.

The six preferred bidders for all Solar Photovoltaic (PV) technology include Doornhoek PV (Pty) Ltd; Boitumelo Solar Power Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd; Kutlwano Solar Power Plant (RF) (Pty) Ltd; URSA Energy (RF) (Pty) Ltd; Antlia Energy (RF) (Pty) Ltd and Ngonyarna Solar (RF) (Pty) Ltd.

Source: South African Government News Agency

An NGO, Devatop Centre for Africa Development (DCAD), has sensitised traders in Enugu to dangers of human trafficking, organ harvesting and the need to report cases of human trafficking.

Members of the group took the campaign to Kenyatta Market Enugu, carrying placards with inscription, “No more silence on human trafficking, “If you see human trafficking, Talkam”, and others.

The Zonal Coordinator, DCAD, Kingsley Ozo, who led the campaign, decried the frequent issues of trafficking in persons and organ harvesting in the country.

He told the traders that the campaign inside the market was to sensitise members of the public, especially traders, to the dangers of human trafficking and organ harvesting.

Ozo said DCAD and its partners had taken same campaign to some communities in Enugu State such as Nkanu, Obeleagu Umuna and Enugu capital.

According to him, the programme, which is carried out under Palladium, a leading implementer of international development programmes, is being funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented in Nigeria by DCAD.

The zonal coordinator told the traders not to be silent after seeing any case of human trafficking or organ harvesting around, urging them to speak out to end the menace.

“We have a referral centre where victims are counseled; you should report cases of trafficking and organ harvesting to appropriate authority for necessary actions to be taken,” he advised.

He also advised parents and guardians to stop giving out their children to people for child labour or organ harvesting, noting that most times people were trafficked in the name of rendering help to their families.

Responding. Chairman of Kenyatta Market Association, Mr Chinwuba Igwesi, thanked the group for the campaign, stressing that security agents should intensify the fight against kidnapping and trafficking in persons.

The chairman, who decried the rising cases of human trafficking, kidnapping, organ harvesting and banditry in Nigeria, said it was not something one would ignore.

He wondered why some people had taken to kidnapping and trafficking, adding that Nigeria was not known for that in the past.

“I don’t know why when you sent someone to school or somewhere, you would not rest until the person came back,” he said, while praying for God’s intervention.

He advised parents and guardians to keep their children together, always pray for them and keep them busy.

“Going outside, playing anyhow, does not help now and every parent should have open eyes on their children,” he further advised.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria