The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor Company (PBMR) is to begin large scale restructuring which could see up to 75% of the 800 strong workforce lose their jobs.

Dion Govender, Chief Executive, Siemens Energy

Siemens Energy Southern Africa, a supplier to Eskom's coal-fired plants and pumped storage schemes, aimed to expand its renewable energy unit into its biggest division, chief executive Dion Govender said this week.

Agreements between the government of France and the North African governments of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia have been signed during the past 2 years to establish frameworks for France to provide these North African governments with the expertise necessary to allow them to add nuclear power to their national energy matrices.

Obiageli Ezekwesili, Vice President, World Bank

According to Obiageli Ezekwesili, vice president at the World Bank, the next developmental leap for Africa will be in the power sector. Just as new technology and legal reform transformed the African telecoms market, Ezekwesili believes that a similar transformation could make a difference to Africa’s power sector.

Six generation units at the 750 MW Hwange thermal power station, which is producing only 50MW due to recurrent breakdowns of its ageing plants, might be decommissioned according to recent media reports.

The residential sector in South Africa consumes 17% of the electrical energy. More than 70% of this electricity is generated using fossil fuels which contribute immensely to environmental pollution and global warming.

A leading supplier of input materials to the electrical motor, transformer repair and manufacturing industries, recently announced that it has been appointed the distributor of the South African-developed Series 8400 Combustible Gas Monitor for the South African and African transformer markets. ... more

Last year’s African Utility Week (AUW) was a landmark event for the African electricity industry. Beyond the presentations and the extraordinary exhibition, talk in the corridors, over lunch and during the ceremonial events, was focused on a new future.

By Alistair Wray, Dfid 

The Infrastructure Consortium for Africa held its 4th Annual Meeting in Tokyo in March. While Africa’s infrastructure needs are daunting, ICA members heard how commitments to make new investments have increased dramatically over the past year. The ICA was established after the 2005 Gleneagles G8 summit to facilitate more and better coordinated investment in infrastructure in Africa to achieve the economic growth and poverty reduction necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Jacob Maroga

It has finally be confirmed by Eskom that Jacob Maroga, the CEO of the South African utility, has resigned.

Hugo van Vuuren, one of the Lebone Solutions founders

A new, off-grid lighting technology looks set to take developing countries with low electrification rates by storm. While many off grid electrification projects harness wind or solar power, a project by a group from Cambridge, Mass, is developing a fuel cell that operates on bacteria from soil!

Seventeen CEM's and Six CMVP's were awarded the prestigious qualification on 21 May 2008 at Browns on Rivonia Restaurant, Johannesburg.