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The South African government has released its first Integrated Resource Plan for power sector spending in eight years and has abandoned plans to add 9,600 MW of nuclear power capacity by 2030. Instead, it will focus on gas-fired, wind and solar power plants. The country’s domestic nuclear capacity currently stands at 1,860 MW and is expected to remain idle in the upcoming years since no new projects are underway. By 2030, the government intends to commission 8,100 MW of wind power, 8,100 MW of gas-fired power plants, 5,670 MW of solar PV panels, 2,500 MW of hydropower and 1,000 MW of coal-fired capacities.

The plan will be carried out by the Department of Energy, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) and the state-run power utility Eskom. By 2030, the country’s energy mix is scheduled to comprise coal (46% of the total capacity), gas (16%), wind (15%), solar (11%), hydropower (10%) and nuclear power (2%). Several coal-fired power plants will reach their end of life by then and Eskom will close approximately 30 GW of coal-fired capacity before 2040.

According to data published by the Indian upstream regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), India-based private owned mining company Vedanta has bagged 41 out of the 55 oil and gas exploration blocks offered in the country’s Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) first auction round while state-run Oil India won 9 blocks and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) only 2.

The Colorado regulator Public Utility Commission (PUC) has approved Xcel Energy’s Colorado Energy Plan, which forecasts the closure of 660 MW of coal-fired generation earlier than expected and a strategic shift to renewable energies. Xcel Energy will shut down the first and second units of the 1,410 MW coal-powered Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo (Colorado,…

Each year, Japanese utilities are required to update their estimates on safety spending. According to the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, safety and security measures at domestic nuclear power plants were expected to cost JPY4.41tr (approximately US$40bn) to their operators as of July 2018, when these costs were reevaluated and raised by JPY582bn (US$4.5bn) compared to the previous year.

Norwegian state-run oil and gas company Equinor (formerly known as Statoil) and its partners Petoro, Aker BP and Total are set to submit the plan for development and operation (PDO) for the second phase of the giant Johan Sverdrup offshore oil project. The production startup for the second phase is currently planned for the last quarter of 2022. Once at plateau production,…

China-based PV module supplier Jinko Solar has signed a 240 MW module supply agreement for the second phase of the 420 MW Dau Tieng solar plant (Dau-Tieng-2), which is located in Tay Ninh (southwest Vietnam). The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract was awarded to Powerchina Huadong.

The Ethiopian government has ousted state-held Metals and Engineering Corporation (METEC) from the US$4bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project due to numerous delays. METEC was in charge of the electromechanical and hydraulic steel structure divisions and the contracts will be awarded to another company. However,…