Hot Water

No-cost

• Use less hot water – Shower instead of bathing, Do not let the hot water run unnecessarily, use cold water to wash your hands instead.
• Turn your geyser down to 60°C. Turning your geyser down from 70˚C to 60˚C will see a 5% reduction in your hot water electricity bill. In some cases, 55°C is a good option (but not below that for health risk reasons)
• Switch off your geyser when you go away for a few days or more and during peak hours.

Low-cost

• Insulate your water pipes and wrap your geyser in a geyser blanket.
• Install a geyser timer.
• Switch to a low-flow, energy and water efficient aerated showerhead
• Fix leaking hot water taps.

Lighting

No-cost

• Turn off the lights if you leave a room for more than five minutes.
• Maximise sunlight. Open the curtains in the morning rather than turning on lights.

low-cost

• Replace traditional incandescent light bulbs with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
• Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) remain a somewhat more affordable way to save,
• Use solar powered lights in your garden

Appliances

No-Cost

• Switch off all unused appliances at the wall.
• Only use your washing machine once a full load of dirty laundry has accumulated
• Use cold-water or lower heat settings as often as possible.
• Skip the pre-wash cycle for clothes that aren’t particularly dirty
• Never overload your automatic washing machine
• When using a kettle, boil only as much water as you need

Low-Cost

• Invest in a front-loading washing machine instead of a top loader. It uses less water and costs less to operate
• Have the seals in your fridge replaced to keep the cold air in
• Choose a dishwasher model with a no-heat air-drying feature to save even more electricity, if you can’t use a cloth to dry the dishes or let them drip-dry instead.

The post Save on Electricity This Month appeared first on Powertime.

The coveted African Power, Energy & Water Industry awards has been taken place for the past six years, during the African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa conference and exhibition, in Cape Town. The prestigious African Power & Energy Elites Publication celebrates leadership and successful projects in the sector since 2016.

The two combined to host an award programme, known as the African Power & Energy Elites and offer even more benefits, recognition and exposure for the finalists and winners. This is apart from the high quality publication and glamorous awards evening. Some of the benefits available for finalists and winners includes access to, and speaking opportunities at leading energy events on the continent and a VIP tour of Cape Town and surrounds and an on-camera interview at the awards evening, amongst others.

In a collaborative effort, the African Power & Energy Elites and the African Power, Energy and Water Industry Awards will align with a single nomination and selection process across a set of complementary categories.

2020 project categories:

1. Leadership profile
2. Generation innovation and optimisation
3. Renewable energy generation innovation and optimisation
4. Rural Electrification
5. Transmission & Distribution
6. Smart Cities
7. Finance & Investment
8. Digital Transformation

The selected leaders and projects will automatically become nominees for the African Power, Energy and Water Awards set to take place on the 13th of May 2020.

The post African Power and Energy Elites Awards 2020 appeared first on Powertime.

“Nersa received numerous complaints regarding the City of Cape Town’s electricity tariffs and is looking into the matter”, Charles Hlebela confirmed. The investigation was widely welcomed, specifically from civic organisation Stop Coct, who had called for a public hearing by Nersa into electricity tariff increases which saw some property owners coughing up way more than the 8.8% increase as stated by the City.

According to Stop Coct spokesperson, Sandra Dickson,  it appears that the City of Cape Town seem to have implemented tariff increases higher than what was initially recommended and approved by Nersa. For 2019/2020 Nersa approved an average increase of 13.07% for municipalities and the City of Cape Town had applied for a 11.30 % increase. However, the City of Cape Town announced in its budget that it would keep the electricity tariff increase at 8.8% for the current financial year.

This, according to Dickson, is technically flawed as some residents have been paying way more than the 8.8% tariff increase advised by the City. Some residents also paid a surcharge of R163.50 if their properties were valued at more than R1 million as well as a flat rate of 10%.

It also stopped giving free electricity units to customers whose monthly usage of electricity per month was more than 450 units over a period of 12 months.

The post City of Cape Town tariff increases Probed appeared first on Powertime.

The SOLTRAIN projects includes a district heating plant for Wits University residences and a solar process heating plant for the Klein Karoo International tannery. The Wits Junction district heating project combines solar, co-generation, and gas heating technologies. This project would serve 14 student residence buildings that house 1,103 students supplied by hot water from one centralized hot water plant room. This installation includes a 600m² solar heating plant with 10m²collectors.

The project is estimated to save Wits an estimated R40 million over the course of 20 years, with considerable savings seen over an 8 month trial period. An image of how this solar plant is set up can be seen below.

The Klein Karoo tannery installed 600 m² solar system as it seeks to reduce its costs and increase its competitiveness. Stellenbosch University predicts a payback of 6.5 years based on a financial model analysis from the feasibility study, which includes maintenance, finance costs, and all system-related expenses – this after approaching the Klein Karoo tannery with this proposal.

Dr Karen Surridge commented:

 “SANEDI is delighted to be associated with such landmark developments that put the SOLTRAIN projects firmly on the renewables table.

The successful conference we have just held with SOLTRAIN partners indicates the relevance of this highly successful programme for the SADC renewable energy strategy and the development in successful systems across six countries.”

Dr Karen Surridge is the centre manager for the renewable energy centre at SANEDI.

The post Solar Power System Projects in South Africa? appeared first on Powertime.

Major cities around South Africa has tabled their budgets. We’ll be comparing how 3 of South Africa’s biggest cities fair in terms of the various increases residents can expect going forward:

Electricity

These three cities has proposed tariff structures in which they absorb some of the weight put down by the July tariff increase. In the City of Johannesburg, residents can expect an increase of 12.2%, Durban residents can expect an 14.4% increase. While Cape Town proposed a “controlled increase” model where residents will cough up a mere 8.8% more, with the city proposing to subsidize the rest, paying 15.63% more for bulk electricity.

Property Rates 

There are also an expected increase in property rates across these 3 cities. Increases for Durban property rates are set to be tabled for 6.9% while the City of Johannesburg residents can expect an increase in property rates of 5.5%. The City of Cape Town has stepped rates which is dependent on property value.

Water

The rates for the use of water is also set for an increase. The price of water in Durban is proposed to be increased by 15% for residential users and 15.5% for businesses. The City of Cape Town proposes and increase of 9% while the City of Johannesburg proposed an increase of 9.9%

Refuse Collection

In Durban, residents can expect to pay 9.9% more to have the refuse removed. Johannesburg proposed an increase of 7%, meanwhile in Cape Town, they’ve actually proposed a decrease, down to 5.0% from 5.7%

Higher food, fuel and electricity prices are set to make it a really tough year consumers. Important to bare in mind, these are mere proposals under scrutiny, included in their budget drafts for the year to come.

The post Utility Increases – Comparing Top 3 Cities appeared first on Powertime.

The storm has had devastating consequences for South Africa as well. Although not deadly, the storm knocked down electricity and phone networks and cut off power to South Africa from a hydropower dam.

Cyclone Idai damaged a Mozambican transmission line to South Africa, in the process cutting supply to the country by a whopping 900MW which immediately worsened the electricity shortage in South Africa. This resulted in Eskom bumping up rotational load shedding from Stage 2 to Stage 4 on Saturday, due to the 900MW loss in supply from Mozambique.

The on-going load-shedding has impacted small and middle businesses negatively, has caused traffic bust ups, even cellphone networks were not spared with many users struggling for signal.

There is good news though! The situation should improve from the public holiday on Thursday and going forward, as the demand begins it’s decline. That, coupled with a shipment of diesel expected to arrive today (19th March, 2019) and should be ready for use in the next few days, should bring some much needed relief to the power grid.

The post How Tropical Storm Idai assisted nationwide Powercuts appeared first on Powertime.

What are the facts?

So what exactly causes global warming? This occurs as a result of Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gases causes the Earth to warm. According an article by NASA, the average surface temperature has risen 0.9 degrees celsius since the late 19th century – 2016 being the warmest year ever recorded. As a result, we are seeing a loss of ice mass, Greenland having lost an average of 281 billion tons of ice, Antartica 119 billion tons, per year between 1993 and 2016. Snow cover in the northern hemisphere has decreased over the past 5 decades, and are melting earlier. Another very scary phenomenon are the global rise in sea level, by 8 inches, with the rate accelerating in the last two decades with the number of recorded high temperature events increasing.

(Pic: courtesy of NASA)

This has seen a effort from governments all over the world to collaborate and come up with progressive regulations and plans to reduce emissions in a bid to claw back the damage that’s being down to earth’s atmosphere.

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