Annemarie

President Jacob Zuma’s remarks during last week’s SONA on the country’s nuclear future might seem contradictory, but this is not the case, says Dr. Anthonie Cilliers of North West University’s School of Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering. President Zuma said South Africa’s nuclear build programme would roll out at a pace the country can afford and that the plan was to introduce 9600MW of nuclear energy in the next decade. Dr Cilliers says “the government has been conducting a number of studies on the affordability of the new build nuclear programme. It is however important to assure this to the public. In the past year a perception has been left in the media that the nuclear programme will go ahead without any knowledge of the cost and responsibilities that come with it. I hope the President’s comments will help to change this perception.” He says South Africans should not be worried: “contrary to popular sentiment the process of 9600MW of nuclear procurement has been extremely open and transparent. The vendor parades were well documented within the confidentiality constraints of a competitive bidding process. Government has cancelled an unaffordable tender process in 2009 indicating the commitment to affordability. I want to emphasise what the President said. We remain committed to the 9600MW of Nuclear New Build, but we will do it at a scale and pace the country can afford - that is what we should so.” Nuclear power by far the safest option “Contrary to what people think and believe, nuclear power provides by far the safest option” states Professor Johan Slabber, professor in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Pretoria. He adds: “it also compares virtually on a one to one basis with coal when it comes to the costing. Although the capital cost is somewhat higher to start with, its running cost is much lower.” Prof Slabber says the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station has been running smoothly now for more than 30 years: “Its load factor is 90% plus, …

African Utility Week will gather some 6000 power and water professionals in 2016 in Cape Town. Photo: Spintelligent “All eyes are on reducing costs and increasing machine run time” Global energy giant Shell will return as a platinum sponsor to African Utility Week at Cape Town’s CTICC from 17-19 May. As the country goes through tough economic times and companies are facing growing price tags for their equipment maintenance, all eyes are on reducing costs and increasing machine run time. Shell Lubricants were designed with cost saving in mind to maximise equipment efficiency, prolong engine life and reduce downtime, resulting in companies spending less on the maintenance of engines and operating longer, earning more profit. Tendani Ndwamise, Direct Sector B2B Marketer at Shell South Africa says at this year’s event that Shell will focus on the promotion of its Commercial Lubricant products. “We will have a number of products on exhibit at our stand, which have all been fully approved by a number of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)” says Tendani. These include: Gas Engines Oils – Shell Mysella Transformer Oils – Shell Diala Diesel Engine Oils- Shell Argina XL Turbines- Shell Turbo S4 Renewable energy sources: “Great pressure has been placed on the country’s power utility to meet energy demands. The need for Independent Power Producers (IPPs) has become dire and the importance of the role of renewable energy sources has increased significantly,” adds Tendani. “To meet this demand, the number of gas engines using unconventional fuels such as landfill, bio or sewage gas has grown significantly. While renewable energy sources are friendlier on the environment and also more sustainable, they also run on big engines that require frequent maintenance and are costly to maintain. This has made it more important for Shell to develop the right kind of oils to improve engine maintenance and performance for these specialised applications” she …

“Event’s 16 year history has its roots in the metering sector” The global prepaid meter standards industry organisation, STS (Standard Transfer Specification), has joined the leading power and water conference and trade expo African Utility Week as an industry partner. STS will hold its AGM during the event in Cape Town in May and also run a free technical workshop on its improved KMC (Key Management Centre) features. Franco Pucci, technical advisor for the STS Association says “the interest in the STS specification in and beyond South Africa continues to increase as the industry pursues electrifying many millions of home. Our innovative edge has been the Cornerstone of the success of prepayment in South Africa over the past 20 years, and, since its inception in this country, all over the world. Our working groups have been working on the requirements for the new KMC (Key Management Centre), which will be launched at African Utility Week 2016.” He adds: “the new KMC has many advanced features from high vending key security using state of art algorithms, to easier coding of security modules and it also supports key rollover. The new KMC has reduced risk when it comes to key validity period, which will assist in reducing the occurrence of ghost vendors.” Metering a vital component of event “African Utility Week’s 16 year history has its roots in the metering sector” says event director Evan Schiff, “and it is still a very vital component to our conference and trade expo. We are therefore delighted to welcome prepayment pioneers STS as official industry partners to our event. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship and invite all metering professionals to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from the best during the free workshops on the expo floor from 17-19 May.” Some 40% of the African Utility Week trade expo is dedicated to the latest metering technology and services on offer to African power and water utilities. About African …

“Water has become a scarce and therefore more valuable commodity” “There are lots of things that we can do as water consumers, whether at home or in our business, to help save water,” says Evan Schiff, event director for African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa. South Africa is currently experiencing drought conditions and cities such as Cape Town and Johannesburg have implemented water restrictions. “Easy changes that one can make is to only take showers instead of a bath, use your waste water to water your garden and if you have a swimming pool, to install a cover over it to prevent evaporation”, says Evan. “Also this holiday period is a good time to check all the taps and water connections in our homes and businesses and fix any leaks. It is scary to think that a leaky tap that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 11 000 litres – that is enough water needed to take more than 180 showers!” Evan adds: “water, while once an abundant natural resource, has become a scarce and therefore more valuable commodity due to droughts and overuse. Effective and innovative water management is fundamental to ensuring the optimum use of our water resources and how technical innovation can improve water delivery. Water utilities have to explore both innovative and alternative water supply options in order to meet rapid growth in urban demand, including wastewater reuse, grey water recycling, storm water, rain water harvesting and seawater desalination.” The City of Cape Town and Johannesburg Water have some great practical water saving tips available online: • https://www.capetown.gov.za/EN/ENVIRONMENTALRESOURCEMANAGEMENT/TIPS/Pages/WaterSavingTips.aspx • https://www.joziwater.co.za/campaigns/water-saving-tips/ Water resource management will form an important part of the programme of the 16th African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa conference and trade exhibition that returns to Cape Town from 17-19 May 2016 – gathering some 6000 …