Episode 305 -- Deep Dive into SAP FCPA Settlement
On 29 May, South Africans go to the ballot box to vote in the country’s most significant election since 1994. Voters will elect members of the national and provincial legislature, with the majority party, or coalition, going...more
Nuclear energy has been significant in South Africa's energy landscape for decades. South Africa's focus on nuclear energy (as a low-carbon and efficient base-load source of energy1) is ever-increasing as the global drive...more
As the world focuses on energy transition and decarbonisation, there is clearly no shortage of bold ambition on the part of many African governments to play a key role in global efforts to tackle climate change. Meanwhile,...more
Alessandra Pardini explores the potential for offshore wind in South Africa and the possibility of kickstarting this nascent industry, as well as some of the legal and environmental hurdles the industry will need to overcome....more
South Africa urgently needs to upgrade its energy systems and transition to renewable energy. Benjamin Mbana highlights how the country’s tax system could play a crucial role in this transition....more
South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy ("DMRE") has removed requirements for independent power producers ("IPPs") to hold generation licences to produce electricity in an effort to rapidly add much needed...more
Renewable energy and market reforms are helping to take the pressure off South Africa’s broken electricity system. But as Alessandra Pardini and Alexandra Clüver, partners in A&O’s Johannesburg office, tell Head of the Africa...more
Last night the President of South Africa, Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, announced a host of measures to address South Africa’s ongoing energy crisis....more
Sibusiso Zungu, a partner in our Johannesburg office, discusses South Africa's energy transition, current trends in African finance and challenges to achieving South Africa's sustainable development goals....more
Blocking funding for gas energy projects in Africa may seem like sensible climate policy. But is it? Although the generally accepted ultimate goal is to replace fossil fuels entirely, there is a strong case for starting by...more
On 6 April 2022 – Six months after the announcement of preferred bidders for Bid Window 5 – the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy ("DMRE") issued the request for proposals ("RFP") for Bid Window 6 of the Renewable...more
In March 2022, in response to bid window 6 of the renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme ("REIPPPP"), Eskom published the Generation Connection Capacity Assessment of the 2024 Transmission Network...more
Following an announcement by the mayor of the City of Cape Town during the 2022 Solar Power Africa conference, the City of Cape Town has advertised a tender process for the procurement of renewable energy from independent...more
Last year was a challenging one for M&A in Africa, with both deal value and volume dropping to their lowest figures on record. Yet 2021 has shown signs of a resurgence, with H1’s total of 87 deals marking a 15% increase...more
It has been 13 years since the World Bank concluded that Africa had "huge technical potential for clean energy projects." More than a decade after, how much has Africa lived up to this potential?...more
On 10 June 2021, the South African Presidency announced an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act 4 of 2006 (“ERA”), potentially enabling a new era of electricity self-generation to mitigate the effects of...more
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has arrived in Africa and it will need an African response if it is to be successfully managed. In early March there were few reported cases on the continent....more
South Africa's Integrated Resources Plan 2019 ("IRP") continues to espouse the need to balance supply and demand on a least-cost basis, and gives limited guidance in relation to the "Where from here?"...more
Crisis in Middle East Should Remind Us of the Importance of Fracking - "Oil prices are likely to spike in the short-term aftermath of the attack on Saudi Arabia, but, as Clifford Krauss and Stanley Reed of The New York...more
M&A in Africa totaled US$21.1 billion in 2018, a slight drop compared to the US$22 billion recorded in 2017. Deal volume, however, fell more precipitously from 272 in 2017 to 206 in 2018. ...more
Investment in the Mining and Natural Resources Sector in South Africa has been plagued by, among others, regulatory and policy uncertainty. ...more
The judgment of the Constitutional Court in the matter between Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development et al case CCT 108/17 ("the Cannabis Judgment"), which decriminalised the cultivation, possession and use of...more
Health, safety, and security are key concerns for all stakeholders operating in the energy and natural resources sector, and these concerns are increasingly leading to investor and boardroom decision-making against...more
SA’s energy vision for 2030: Jeff Radebe releases the details in long-awaited IRP - The long-awaited Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) envisages the energy mix in 2030 will consist of almost half coal power, with gas and wind...more
Study initiated to assess conversion of Kelvin power station from coal to gas - US$1.3 million feasibility study has been initiated into the prospect of converting the coal-fired Kelvin power station, east of Johannesburg,...more