ESI Africa

Shell’s Technical Manager, Mpho Mokwena, shares insight into how industrial lubrication solutions can help mining operations improve equipment reliability, increase uptime and reduce total cost of ownership. He sees key trends in the lubrication industry in the foreseeable future to be digitisation of customer-centric solutions and decarbonisation. “When it comes to digitisation, it also speaks …

Southern Africa’s only nuclear power plant’s Unit 1 received its long-term operating licence on 15 July 2024, extending its operational life till 21 July 2044 while Unit 2 received its licence in November 2025 to extend operations until 9 November 2045. Together the two units at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station are now part of a …

AMEU President Rob Ferrier chatted to ESI Africa Editor-in-Chief Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl about the practical progress AMEU member utilities are building on and the strategic priorities and operational challenges they will explore at their next Convention in Polokwane in October. Ferrier explained that the top challenges are prioritising at the Association of Municipal Electricity Utility’s …

The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) was successfully installed in its design position at Unit 2 of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Egypt on 9 July 2026. Now that this significant milestone has been reached, the countdown begins towards the nuclear plant’s physical start-up. This is when nuclear fuel is loaded into the …

Heatwaves in Europe and North America make global headlines but at the same time the Sahel’s rising mercury barely registers. [embedded content] According to the GBCSA, there are three types of professionals in the design and construction fields: those who are resisting change, those who aren’t aware of green building industry developments and those who …

Noting the prevalence of interoperability challenges and the issues of reduced functionality of installed distributed energy resources that can arise from limited interoperability, a report by the Carbon Trust offers advice and practical solutions to consumers and policymakers. [embedded content] David Mvura, Technical Director and Partner at MATTLA Engineering Solutions, explores the growing complexity of …

Imagine a future where nuclear energy, and not the constraints of solar cycles and limitations of chemical rockets, dictates the reach of human ambition. This is the strategic reality codified in the 2020 MOU between NASA and the US Department of Energy (DOE). [embedded content] This bureaucratic formality serves as the high-stakes blueprint for humanity’s …

Nuclear reactors differ mainly in three respects: the fuel they use, what moderates neutrons to sustain the chain reaction, and what carries heat out of the core. Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR): About seven in ten reactors worldwide are PWRs. Ordinary water serves as both coolant and moderator. A key safety feature: if the water overheats …

Consider this: had a geological soil survey been properly done, Chernobyl may well not have happened. Far safer VVERs and not inherently unsafe RBMK reactors would then have formed the basis of the Soviet nuclear build programme.  The original plan in 1970 was to build Soviet reactors with containment domes and base the new nuclear …

So far, August 2026 has hit the joint top-spot as the hottest month on record, and individual months just continue to rack up new records. Cooling is one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand worldwide, and Africa is feeling the heat. Rising incomes and temperatures are driving demand for air-conditioning, refrigeration and cold storage, …

In this podcast Lance Hawkins-Dady, board chairman of the STS Association, talks to ESI Africa Editor-in-Chief Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl about how utilities can modernise their metering systems without a costly rip-and-replace. They also discuss why encryption, key management and operator discipline all matter as much as the technology itself. Hawkins-Dady pointed out that the STS …

As a fundamental VVER design principle, all major safety systems are equipped with both active safety systems (backed by highly reliable AC and DC power supplies with redundant sources), and passive safety systems, which require no electrical power at all. The safety design features of the VVER allows operators the possibility of using different safety …

For the first time in human history, the hydrological cycle is out of balance. This is according to the Global Commission on the Economics of Water’s (GCEW) report, The Economics of Water: Valuing the Hydrological Cycle as a Global Common Good.  [embedded content] Pablo Lazo, Global Director of Urban Development of the World Resources Institute …

The VVER is a pressurised water reactor (PWR), the most common type of nuclear reactor worldwide, employing light water as both the coolant and moderator. Here we explore the technical features. There are significant differences between the VVER and other PWR types, both in terms of design and materials used. Distinguishing features of the VVER …

Ahead of the AMEU Convention 2026, ESI Africa spoke to Paddy Padayachee about how local manufacturing and asset refurbishment can address infrastructure backlogs at South African municipalities. The vice Chairperson of the AMEU Steering Committee explained that municipalities and private sector suppliers have to maintain a collaborative operational partnership that goes beyond the basic buyer …

The success of South Africa’s electricity market reform hinges on wheeling—the financial and contractual mechanism that uses the National Transmission Company of South Africa (NTCSA), Eskom Distribution and municipal networks to transport power from independent generators to end-users. [embedded content] Bernhard Teuteberg, Lead at the Department of Infrastructure, Western Cape Government, explains how the province …

To many people, Russian nuclear reactors are linked to the 1986 Chernobyl accident: something sinister, dangerous and about to explode. Nothing could be further from the truth. The review after Chernobyl to refine the designs was so thorough that many design features that Western nations required only after the 2011 Fukushima accident were included in …

The Potential cost reduction in new nuclear deployments based on recent AP1000 experience report details the challenges and issues of the AP1000 reactors that have been built and are being built, both in the US and in China. Based on this report, we address the question of whether the second of a pair of nuclear …

The South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM) is due to launch at the end of September 2026 (originally set for April 2026). Five structural blockages could stall it further before it moves any power. [embedded content] Rivoningo Mnisi, Group Executive: Eskom Green ,explores the technical challenges of integrating higher levels of renewable energy into electricity …

Africa’s electric two-wheeler sales jumped from under 1,000 to more than 70,000 in a single year. Five industry leaders explain what could stall that growth. That figure, drawn from the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook 2026, set the tone for an online panel discussion RMI hosted on 31 August, bringing together voices from policy, …

The AP originally stood for Advanced Passive reactor, stemming from its revolutionary design. First built as the AP600 (with 600MW electrical power), Westinghouse subsequently upgraded the design to 1,000MW (hence AP1000), after no sales were achieved. Here we track the AP build in the US.    Why is the AP1000 both evolutionary and revolutionary? Evolutionary, …

Why did the first projects to build nuclear reactors in the US since 1978 (four AP1000s: two at Vogtle and two at Summer) go so disastrously wrong, and end with Westinghouse being forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy by massive cost overruns and building delays? While this topic is covered in detail by a four-part series …

A new SANAS-accredited Water Meter Verification Laboratory strengthens Conlog’s growing smart water offering, building on the company’s established capabilities across electricity, manufacturing and utility technology services. As an established manufacturing and technology services provider, Conlog has built decades of capability around electricity metering and the technologies that support smarter utility management. Now, the company is …

AMEU President Rob Ferrier says 2026 will test municipal power utilities on three fronts, namely new regulation, rooftop solar eating into revenue, and rising infrastructure crime. Ferrier heads the Association of Municipal Electricity Utilities (AMEU), which represents municipal electricity distributors across Southern Africa. Speaking with ESI Africa on the association’s priorities for the year ahead, …