The names of 19 bidders - who have been selected as the preferred bidders for Window 2 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers (IPP) programme that will contribute to South Africa's energy mix - were announced on Monday.

The bidding for window 2 closed on 5 March with the total 79 bids received. These bids amount to 3 255MW while the cap was at 1 275MW.

"In this window, the department received 79 bids of which 51 met the qualification criteria as per the Request for Proposals. Given the megawatts limitation and competition, only 19 bidders were selected as preferred bidders for Window 2," Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said in Pretoria on Monday.

Integrated Resource Plan

The Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2010) places specific emphasis on broadening electricity supply technologies to include gas, imports, nuclear, biomass, renewables (wind, solar and hydro), in response to both the country's future electricity needs as well as reduce its CO2 emissions.

South Africa wants to procure 3 725MW of renewable energy through this process.

According to the IRP2010 - which is a 20-year projection on electricity supply and demand - about 42% of electricity generated in South Africa is required to come from renewable resources. The department has set aside 100MW of the 3 725MW for smaller projects of less than 5MW.

The department has noted that under window 2, the level of commitment to economic development has improved compared to window 1. "More communities will benefit through employment or as shareholding in these projects," said the minister, adding that most bidders in window 2 will establish community trusts aimed at developing surrounding communities.

Projects allocated

Of the selected bidders, nine were selected for the solar photovoltaic technology, seven for wind, two for small hydro and one for concentrated solar thermal (CSP).

For Solar photovoltaic 417MW have been taken up by bidders with the maximum MW allocated for round 2 at 450; for wind 562.5MW has been taken up with the maximum allocation at 650MW.

For small hydro 13.3MW has been taken up from a maximum allocated for round 2 at 75MW while for CSP the allocated maximum 50MW has been taken up. In the 2nd window a total 1 043.9MW has been taken up by bidders.

Japser Power Company, Solar Capital De Aar 3 and Sishen Solar Facility were among the bidders selected for solar photovoltaic technology; while West Coast 1 and Grassridge form part of the 7 selected for wind and Stortemelk Hydro (Pty) Ltd and Neusberg Hydro Electric Project A were selected for small hydro. For CSP Bokpoort CSP project was selected.

A full list of bidders is available on the Independent Power Producers programme website.

Growing the economy

Peters said government saw the programme as an opportunity to grow the economy given the numbers of unemployed people while the procurement of alternative energy is also aimed at alleviating energy constraints.

The programme also seeks to make provision for local content in the provision of alternative energy sources while the bids were evaluated by technical, financial, legal and international reviewers.

What the department had noted, said Director General Nelisiwe Magubane, was that there were "significant" changes in several areas like pricing whereby in solar photovoltaic in window 1 on average was at about 2.75 per kWh. "We've seen a significant reduction in price of about R1.65 per kWh for window 2," she said.

Additionally there have been significant increases in the local content from 28.5% in window 1 to 47.5% in bid window 2 in solar photovoltaic technology.

"Job creation per province, we've seen a small reduction from bid window 1 but the bidders have indicated that on the total 7 059 jobs created in the construction period and 328 jobs created in the operation of the life of the plant," said Magubane.

In the first window some of the challenges faced by bidders were that they had trouble reaching the financial close, of which June is the financial close for window1 project proposals.

Appeal to financial sector

Peters appealed to the country's financial sector to provide financing to bidders.

"The success of renewable energy hinges on the financial sector," she said, adding that bidders that were having trouble before the financial close to speak up. "I would want to appeal to those bidders that are already experiencing challenges to come to the fore. It is an appeal for the benefit of the number of jobs that will not be realised if there's no financial support," said Peters.

The minister said there had been informal conversation regarding companies experiencing financial strain. "With them not coming to the fore this would mean that we're not going to deliver on the megawatts that we want," she said.

Last year, the Department of Energy announced 28 preferred bidders, out of a total of 53 applications for the IPP bid process in the first window.

Ompie Aphane, Deputy Director General for Electricity, Nuclear and Clean Energy at the department said the department was not sure of the amount of projects that were in financial strain.

In December, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) announced that it will finance 12 of the 28 preferred bidders to contribute to the country's energy mix. The financing will be to the tune of R5.2-billion. Meanwhile, Peters said the department has started talking to financial institutions.

The minister called on prospective bidders for the remaining three windows that they need not necessary own the land on which projects will operate on. Bidders could co-exist. "We don't want to lose arable land," said Peters adding that bidders could share the same piece of land with farmers.

The department has yet to decide on when bidding will commence for projects to take part in window 3.

Source: BuaNews

South Africa outperformed the rest of Africa, as well as its upper middle-income economy peers, in a World Bank survey of trade efficiency, improving its previous performance despite a general slowdown in trade logistics performance in the wake of the global recession.

According to the World Bank's "Connecting to Compete 2012" report, released on Tuesday, countries that pursued aggressive reforms continued to improve their trade logistics performance, despite the global slowdown in progress over the last two years.

South Africa was among a group of countries - including Chile, China, India, Morocco, Turkey and the US - that improved their previous performance, according to the study, which is based on a comprehensive world survey of international freight forwarders and express carriers.

Top performer in Africa, BRICS

In the upper-middle income country category, South Africa was the top performer, followed by China and Turkey. South Africa's logistics performance indicators gave the country a score of 3.67, lifting it up to 23rd place overall out of 155 economies surveyed - up from a ranking of 28 in 2010.

China, ranked 26th, followed closest among South Africa's BRICS partners, followed by Brazil at 45th, India at 46th, and Russia at 95th.

Tunisia was the next best African performer, ranked 41st, followed by Morocco (50th), Egypt (57th), Benin (67th) and Botswana (68th). Economic powerhouse Nigeria placed 121st.

"Infrastructure stands out as the chief driver of progress in top performers, followed by improvements in logistics services, and customs and border management," Mona Haddad, sector manager of the World Bank's international trade department, said in a statement.

"All top performers show strong cooperation between the public and private sectors, and a comprehensive approach in the development of services, infrastructure and efficient logistics."

Role in reducing food prices, carbon footprint

At a time where food prices are at historic highs, the survey found that logistics is important for food security.

"Transport and logistics directly affect the price and local availability of food through the performance and resilience of food chains, especially in African and Middle Eastern countries that depend heavily on food imports," the World Bank said.

In developing countries, particularly landlocked and poor ones, transport and logistics account for 20-60 percent of delivered food prices, according to the survey. "For instance, they make up 48 percent of the cost of US corn imported by Nicaragua."

The survey, which for the first time included environmental indicators, also found that green logistics is quickly gaining prominence in high-income and emerging economies - "a positive development, since logistics and freight-related activities may account for up to 15 percent of human carbon dioxide emissions".

"Trade logistics is key to economic competitiveness, growth, and poverty reduction," said Otaviano Canuto, World Bank vice-president for poverty reduction and economic management.

"Unfortunately, the logistics gap between rich and poor countries continues, and the convergence trend experienced between 2007 and 2010 has stalled as events like the global recession and the European debt crisis shifted attention away from logistics reform."

According to the World Bank, the way forward is clearly demonstrated by the top performers in the 2012 survey: "Only by fostering cooperation between the public and private sectors, and by considering the impact of all agencies on the supply chain, can a country create sustainable improvements in its logistical capabilities."

SAinfo reporter

First-world infrastructure plus a vibrant emerging market equals huge investment potential!

For the country to overcome inequality, South Africans must reach consensus on both workers' wages and executive pay rates, and speeding up the creation of new jobs, says Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel.

Speaking at the Next Economy National Dialogue on income inequality in Parliament, Cape Town on Thursday, Patel singled out figures in the 2010 household survey that revealed that the top 10% of earners in South Africa took home salaries that were 101 times higher than the bottom 10% of earners.

"When what one person takes away is so disproportionally larger than what another takes away, the social glue that holds society together weakens," he said, adding that income inequality also suppressed the market, as fewer people were able to buy goods and services.

Effective partnerships needed

What was needed were more effective partnerships between all sections of society.

"If partnership can do what it did to the Japanese economy after the end of the Second World War, or the German economy, or to a number of other successful economies, partnership needs a sense of being in something together," Patel said.

He highlighted the progress that Brazil had made in overcoming inequality since the mid-1990s, even though, between 2000 and 2008, Brazil and South Africa had grown at nearly the same rate - Brazil at 3.5%, South Africa at 3.6%.

The government was addressing inequality largely through social grants, the country's regressive tax system, and free or subsidised basic services.

New job opportunities key

However, this wasn't enough, Patel said, adding that the government alone would never be able to overcome inequality in South Africa.

"We have got to build, to a greater and greater extent, opportunities for employment, for jobs, for decent work, as the principle means out of poverty."

While over 300 000 new jobs had been added over the last 12 months, just over 400 000 new jobs had been added since the adoption of the New Growth Path 18 months ago - compared to the previous 18 months preceding the adoption of the new policy, when the country lost over 600 000 jobs.

"But not withstanding that jobs growth, we are hardly making a dent in jobs growth, we are hardly making a dent in unemployment levels," Patel said.

CEOs must disclose pay packages: Vavi

Also addressing the debate in Parliament, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi said that at a youth wage subsidy - an idea first mooted by the National Treasury - would only address unemployment in the short term.

Vavi acknowledged that unemployment was the biggest problem the country faced, but said that at the same time, one couldn't look away from the issue of high pay, adding that the country needed a mechanism to get chief executives to disclose the level of their pay packages.

He agreed with the 2011 report and findings of the UK High Pay Commission, that shareholders should be given more power to vote on the pay packages and bonuses of top executives.

He said top South African executives wanted to measure their packages with those of other developed countries, while at the same time arguing that workers had to be paid on par with other developing countries.

Vavi pointed out that top executives in South Africa earned 1 728 times the average worker in their respective companies, while this gap was only at 319 times in the US.

Business sector 'unfairly demonised'

Bobby Godsell, chairman of Business Leadership South Africa, who backed the idea of setting up a commission to examine corporate pay as the UK had done, said the business sector was often unfairly demonised.

Business owners and business leaders were not only after money when running a company, but also wanted to build good companies and make a contribution to society.

Top executives had to be remunerated accordingly, he said.

In response to Vavi's assertion that inequality was increasingly dividing the country along class lines, Nazmeera Moola, head of macro-strategy at Macquarie First South, stressed that the country needed to create more jobs, no matter the scale of remuneration.

"There is class warfare, and the warfare is between those who have formal sector jobs and those that don't," Moola said.

What would relieve unemployment and narrow the gap between the rich and poor, she said, was if the country helped smaller firms to hire more workers.

UK High Pay Commission chairperson joins debate

Joining the debate in Cape Town on Thursday, Deborah Hargreaves, chairperson of the UK High Pay Commission, said the commission had developed a 12-point plan which had subsequently been adopted by the Labour party.

Hargreaves said the plan included a call to give shareholders a binding vote on chief executives' pay or exist bonuses.

She said the UK government was currently drafting regulations around executive pay which included making allowances for more diversity on companies' remuneration committees, and the calculation of a single figure around which executive pay could be structured.

However, she said the UK government had not turned down a more controversial idea to have employee representative on remuneration committees.

She said massive distortions in pay destabilised economic growth as it drew many of the brightest minds to the financial sector, away from the industrial sector. It also demoralised those in the workforce who felt that pay rates were unfair.

There was also evidence that more equal societies attracted more entrepreneurship.

She said the top 0.1% of income earners in the UK (earning more than £500 000 and consisting of 36 000 people) saw their pay rise by 64% between 1997 and 2008, while the income of middle-income earners rose only by seven percent over the same period.

In a recent British survey that asked how much top executives should be paid, most people polled said top executives should be paid between £500 000 and £700 000 pounds - a massive contrast to the average top pay of £4.2-million, she said.

Source: BuaNews

South Africa's Anglo American Platinum (Angloplat) has launched the prototype of the first fuel cell powered underground locomotive, in a bid to demonstrate the viability of platinum-based fuel cells as an alternative energy source while helping the country meet its energy and job creation challenges.

Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll, speaking at last week's launch, described the event as "a leap forward for fuel cells.

"The platinum-based hydrogen fuel cells, used to power the locomotive we are unveiling today, offer one of the most exciting opportunities for South Africa in the green economy," Carroll said.

"At Anglo American, we believe that with platinum at its heart, a South African fuel cell industry would support the country's drive for jobs and help to meet its energy challenges."

According to Angloplat, hydrogen-powered fuel cell locomotives are more economical and environmentally friendly than traditional rail transport, being powered by a cleaner and more secure energy source.

A fuel cell is essentially a gas battery that produces electricity as long as it is fed with hydrogen gas. The fuel cells provide availablity 24-7, and there is no need to change or recharge the battery it replaces, which means less downtime and increased productivity.

"These innovative locomotives will provide us with an opportunity to mine platinum in a more economic, energy-secure and environmentally benign manner," said Angloplat CEO Neville Nicolau. "The locomotives will not require any electricity from the grid to function, and will not emit noxious gases."

The locomotive was developed in collaboration with Vehicle Projects, Trident South Africa, and Battery Electric. The partnership will construct five fuel cell locomotives which will be tested for underground use at one of Angloplat's mines, after which they will be integrated into the company's mining operations.

According to Angloplat, fuel cell technology is a strategic emerging industry, and the locomotive project is part of the company's collaboration with South African government and technology partners to explore the potential of fuel cells, with an eye to the industrialisation and beneficiation of platinum group metals (PGMs).

"This collaborative work is intended to enable the development of a local fuel cell manufacturing, distribution, marketing and servicing industry which will be globally competitive," Angloplat said.

SAinfo reporter

Political and business leaders from the continent and its diaspora will meet in South Africa next week for the Global African Diaspora Summit, which will explore ways of involving the diaspora in Africa's development.

With less than a week to the start of the summit, host country South Africa says preparations are at an advanced stage.

Confirmations for attendance are pouring in, ranging from heads of state to Africans in the diaspora across the Atlantic, International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane told reporters in Pretoria on Tuesday.

The summit will be hosted by the African Union in Sandton, Johannesburg from 23 to 25 May.

"The continent values the significant role the African diaspora played in the struggles against colonialism and apartheid," Nkoana-Mashabane said. "We continue to perceive the diaspora as vital in the pursuit for a peaceful and prosperous Africa."

The summit will consider issues such as the possible inclusion of the diaspora as a sixth region of the African Union, the creation of partnerships between the diaspora and the continent, and the promotion of South-South cooperation for the betterment of the continent and its diaspora.

The summit is expected to endorse an AU Diaspora Volunteer Programme, which would associate the diaspora directly with the development efforts on the continent and give concrete meaning to concept of one African family.

It will also look at the development of a skills database of diaspora professionals; an African Diaspora Development Fund; and the model of a "development marketplace for an African diaspora" as a framework to facilitate innovation and develop entrepreneurship both on the continent and within the diaspora.

Source: BuaNews

South Africa may be able to tap into thousands of megawatts in renewable energy when the massive Inga hydro-electric project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) goes live.

The Department of Energy's chief director of clean energy, Mokgadi Modise, said a treaty that would make this possible, outlining the roles and responsibilities of the different actors, was being finalised.

Modise was speaking at a media briefing during the Africa-European Union Energy Partnership's first stakeholder forum in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Potentially largest project in the world

The Inga hydro-electric project on the Congo River could become the largest hydro-electric project in the world, and is expected to generate a massive 40 000MW of electricity - more than the current electricity generation in South Africa.

Modise said the South African negotiating team was being led by the Department of International Relations and Co-operation and included the Department of Public Enterprises, the Department of Energy and the National Treasury.

She said the project would help more South Africans access electricity while significantly boosting African regional integration.

Africa-EU Energy Partnership

According to the government's Integrated Resource Plan, a 20-year projection on electricity supply and demand, about 6% of electricity generated in the country will be required to come from hydro resources.

Modise added that the Finnish and Austrian governments were funding nine energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects in South Africa.

The Africa-EU Energy Partnership, created in 2007, is a partnership between business, government and civil society to find ways of meeting sustainable energy challenges on the continent. The partnership has 54 African and European members.

In Vienna in 2010, the partners signed a declaration setting out targets, to be met by 2020, for energy access, energy security, energy efficiency and the adoption of renewable energy.

The partnership's stakeholder forums - of which the Cape Town meeting is the first - are intended to enable members to explore ways of achieving these targets.

Source: BuaNews

South Africans celebrate Freedom Day in order to ensure that the present does not erase the past, and in order to protect the future, President Jacob Zuma said as the country marked its 18th year of freedom on Friday, calling on all citizens to work together to make the country a success.

"We must put the country first in everything we do, and work together to make a success of the second phase of struggle, that of working towards a prosperous South Africa."

The President was addressing the national Freedom Day celebrations held at the Union Buildings. The day commemorates the first democratic elections held in the country on 27 April 1994.

"Together we have built from the ashes of apartheid a country that is dedicated to patriotism, nation-building and reconciliation," Zuma said, adding that South Africa had been able to tackle its socio-economic development challenges through the creation of a stable democratic system.

"It has been a short but very meaningful road from a pariah state to a peaceful, stable, vibrant non-racial, non-sexist, democratic country that is working hard to achieve prosperity for all," Zuma said.

"On Freedom Day we celebrate our victory over racial bigotry."

He the government was working towards eradicating unemployment, inequity and poverty.

"The challenge has been to ensure that more of our people benefit from economic growth whilst maintaining and indeed building on the strength of our economy."

South Africa was recovering from the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008-09, with the past 18 months having seen a substantial economic recovery, Zuma said.

"The challenge now is to accelerate our gains, to ensure above all that growth supports increased inclusion, employment and equity."

The proportion of the population living below the R422 a month poverty line had decreased from 50% in 1994 to 34.5% in 2009, Zuma said, while in 2011, 75.8% of the country's households had access to electricity compared to 51% in 1994.

"Most importantly, primary health care is now accessible to all South Africans regardless of race, background and nationality," said Zuma.

Efforts to improve social conditions in the country include an R8.2-billion allocation for school infrastructure, while 43 regional bulk projects for water infrastructure will be completed by 2014, benefiting 3.2-million people.

South Africa was also working to support unemployed young people through the expansion of public employment programmes, Zuma said.

Source: BuaNews

South Africa is a culturally diverse country, one nation made up of many peoples.

The BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has called on the G20 to strengthen its coordination and find ways to improve the multilateral trading system in order to address current global economic uncertainties.

The call was made at a G20 ministerial meeting in Mexico over the weekend.

South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said the BRICS trade ministers had called upon their fellow G20 trade ministers to identify ways to improve the multilateral trading system.

"We have made this call, so that all economies may pursue a sustainable and 'development-friendly' integration in global trade, including adjustment strategies for their industries and workforce, as well as the appropriate social and sectoral policies to respond to existing structural vulnerabilities," Davies said in a statement released on Monday.

Conclusion of Doha Round 'vital'

The BRICS ministers had re-emphased their commitment to the Doha Development Round, saying the conclusion of the Doha would be a significant step in this direction and urging the G20 to work towards this.

According to BRICS ministers, while global value chains were playing an increasing role in trade, many sectors, industries and even countries were not participating in global value chains as fully as others.

"In order for global value chains to serve as instruments of growth and development, it would be important to develop a deeper understanding of their developmental impact and the conditions under which they can be used to achieve long term socio-economic gains," Davies said.

At the same time, Davies cautioned that obstacles should not be placed in the way of the development and effective functioning of global value chains "for protectionist reasons".

"In this context, it would be useful to have a member-driven process, in the WTO, Unctad and other intergovernmental agencies, to examine this issue, including the identification of more accurate statistical methods to assess value addition."

SAinfo reporter

South Africa's economic growth is "reasonably stable" but still vulnerable to problems in the eurozone, and the country looks forward "to a far more clear set of actions" from European countries to give certainty to global markets, says Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

Gordhan was speaking at a Foreign Correspondents Association breakfast in Johannesburg on Monday, ahead of a G20 meeting on Thursday and Friday where leaders are expected to find out if they are any closer to an answer to the European crisis.

The meeting is also expected to look into whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has adequate resources and if it requires additional funds.

'Multi-polarity is where we are heading'

Globally, the world is moving towards multi-polarity, where traditional methods of growth are no longer operational, Gordhan said.

"We are living in epoch-changing shifts in the economy; they don't happen overnight nor can they be judged over a short period. These are shifts that are reflected in the way in which global growth is being distributed.

"Multi-polarity is where we are heading," Gordhan said. "It shouldn't be seen as this enforced historical change that we have to live with, but rather as a vital necessity to ensure that global growth is restored ."

Ratings agencies' comments 'unwarranted'

Gordhan described the decision by some ratings agencies to place South Africa on a negative watch as "an unfortunate casting of European shadows on the South African scene.

"There is nothing to suggest in the numbers or policy pronouncement that this government has made to justify the kind of doubts that rating agencies are placing on South Africa."

There were, however, social demands to better deliver resources. Gordhan said this was not driven by demands for more money to be spent, but rather for money to be better spent and less subject to corruption, a matter which government was attending to.

"We want to build up a 10-year fiscal framework, which will tell us what we can afford and how we need to grow the economy to overcome challenges," the minister said.

South Africa was working to improve growth with its recently announced infrastructure programme, as well as with the competitive programme for the industrial sector, support for emerging farmers, investment in science and technology, and employment expansion - particularly for young people, for whom processes were "taking too long".

"There are immense opportunities on the continent," Gordhan said.

Reducing unemployment

On the issue of reducing unemployment, Gordhan said this ambition depended on the extent of economic growth, labour absorption, as well as greater investment in industries with a larger capability to employ people.

"I admit [we are] not easily going to meet some of the targets we set, but I'm hopeful that some of the programmes we put in place might begin to change the picture. If we can get the global economy to settle down and get back to a growth path, we might see a different picture in about five years."

South Africa aims to create five-million jobs by 2020. Gordhan said more needed to be done, adding that 70 percent of the job creation target had to come from the private sector.

The minister stressed that incentives for business to create jobs were available, and that far more "urgent discussion" was needed in this regard.

Source: BuaNews

Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele has thanked South African motorists for their behaviour over one of the safest Easter weekends on the country's roads - while stressing that more work still needs to be done to reduce the road accident rate.

While 181 people still died on the roads over the four-day period, according to preliminary reports, this is sharply down from last year's figure of 296.

South Africa's Easter weekend holiday period is notorious for its high number of accidents and fatalities as tens of thousands of people make their way to various holiday and religious destinations.

"We would like to compliment all road users who adhered to the rules of the road, as well as all our law enforcement officers and emergency services personnel who went beyond the call of duty," Ndebele said on Wednesday.

At the same time, Ndebele said that while the statistics were positive, much still remained to be done.

The minister was speaking at the launch of "Think Pedestrian" campaign in Johannesburg. Pedestrians account for nearly 40% of South Africa's road fatalities annually.

Over the long weekend, 56 roadblocks were held and 905 motorists were arrested - 562 for drinking and driving, 226 for reckless and negligent driving, and 117 for other offences.

About 355 unroadworthy vehicles were taken off the road and 249 public transport vehicles were impounded.

Provincially, there were 30 fatal accidents in KwaZulu-Natal, 23 in Gauteng, 32 in Limpopo, 25 in Mpumalanga, 19 in North West province, 15 in the Free State, 20 in the Eastern Cape, 13 in the Western Cape, and four in the Northern Cape.

Speeding, dangerous overtaking, fatigue, drinking and driving, and unroadworthy vehicles are all major contributing factor to accidents.

Ndebele said road deaths and injuries not only caused enormous pain and suffering to the victims and their families, but also cost the economy billions of rands each year.

In a bid to reduce future road fatalities, Ndebele has instructed the country's traffic authorities that a minimum of 10 000 motorists be screened for alcohol every month.

Source: BuaNews