Two jewels in the Gupta tiara – Optimum Coal Mine and Shiva Uranium – were the subject of legal action again this week, the latest in an unbelievable saga of intrigue and lawfare that commenced in February when business rescue practitioners (BRPs) took control of the companies.

There have been close to 50 legal cases – more than one a week – involving the eight Gupta companies under business rescue. Most involved attempts to liquidate the companies, strip the assets and pocket 10% of the proceeds, likely to exceed R200 million had they succeeded. Other cases involved attempts to remove the BRPs and replace them with more agreeable agents that would no doubt expedite the asset stripping that would ensue. Every one of the cases was defeated.

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https://www.moneyweb.co.za/mineweb/custody-battle-for-guptas-orphan-mines-nears-end/

A micro gas turbine designed to provide electricity to defence units in the field has been demonstrated to leading industry players in Australia.

South Australian company ecoJet Engineering demonstrated its 20kW gas turbine in Canberra last week. The prototype engine system is only about 10 per cent of the weight of a comparable internal combustion diesel engine and can be configured to run on a range of liquid and gaseous fuels, including propane, natural gas and diesel.

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http://theleadsouthaustralia.com.au/industries/defence/lightweight-electricity-solution-emerges-for-deployed-defence-units/

Morocco and Portugal are set to construct an undersea electricity cable connecting between the two countries at a cost of US $800m.

Portuguese Secretary of State for Energy Joao Galamba confirmed the reports and said that the two countries are conducting feasibility studies and upon completion there will be a call for tenders to build the electricity cable.

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https://constructionreviewonline.com/2018/12/morocco-to-construct-us-800m-cable-undersea-electricity-cable/

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan must now act in the best interest of South Africans and tackle the electricity crisis head-on, the Democratic Alliance said on Sunday.

The DA would write to Gordhan requesting an urgent meeting on the electricity crisis. It was now time for the African National Congress government and Gordhan to put politics aside and seriously consider the DA’s plan to ensure the country no longer had to endure the crippling effects of power blackouts, DA spokeswoman Natasha Mazzone said.

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https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/gordhan-called-on-to-tackle-sas-dire-electricity-crisis-18352792

The advent of technologies such as energy storage, small-scale embedded generation and smart grid solutions are set to fundamentally change South Africa’s electricity landscape, outgoing Eskom generation group executive Thava Govender said during an opening address at the SA Energy Storage conference on Tuesday.

“The challenge we face today is making this invisible product called electricity visible. Once visible, electricity can be better directed and optimised. Energy storage offers the means to make electricity visible.”

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www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/energy-storage-seen-as-an-enabler-for-grid-modernisation-in-realising-irp-2030-vision-2018-10-23

Energy companies with more than 200,000 clients will be obliged to provide households with at least one offer comprising dynamic price contracts, under an EU-level agreement reached behind closed doors last week, EURACTIV.com has learned.
European Union legislators made headway on a proposed overhaul of EU electricity market rules, striking an agreement on “aggregators” – or virtual power plants, which make money from storing electricity or managing the energy consumption of their clients.

The deal on dynamic prices makes way for aggregators to enter the electricity market en masse and disrupt the sector in the same way that virtual network operators disrupted the telecoms market.
Under the agreement, aggregators won’t have to ask energy suppliers for prior permission to enter the market. In exchange, energy suppliers will receive compensation in case the electricity they produce is lost. Details of the compensation are still to be agreed.

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EU negotiators agree ‘dynamic pricing’ of electricity

A team of researchers from The University of Texas at Arlington is combining several principles of machine learning to enable machines to control power networks and other complex dynamic systems more effectively during unexpected events.

Frank Lewis, the Moncrief-O’Donnell Professor of Electrical Engineering, Yan Wan and Ali Davoudi, associate professors of electrical engineering, are using a $220,000 Early-concept Grant for Exploratory Research, or EAGER, from the National Science Foundation to use real-time learning to create a unified theory on how to optimize microgrid capacity through DC distribution. Junfei Xie, an assistant professor of computer science at Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi, is assisting the team with data analysis.

Microgrid capacity in the United States is strained and DC, or direct current, distribution networks are emerging as alternatives to the current standard AC, or alternating current, networks. The networks are critical to the scalable integration of renewable energy resources and fleets of electric vehicles.

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https://phys.org/wire-news/301685623/researchers-optimize-electricity-distribution-networks.html

The government has invited China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Company Limited (CET) to assess Uganda’s electricity transmission and distribution grids.
CET’s findings will inform future investments (projects) in the networks, which are currently operated by the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) and Umeme respectively.

The invite follows CET’s June 1 expression of interest to invest $3 billion (Shs11.2 trillion) in the systems to reduce technical losses and improve reliability of power supply.

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http://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Prosper/Uganda-requests-China-experts-study-electricity-grids/688616-4817364-5cedg4z/index.html

October 23 (Renewables Now) – With 182,367 MWh produced, wind accounted for 27.2% of the electricity produced in the UK on October 22, second only to combined cycle gas generation, whose share was 40.2%.

The overall electricity generation for the day stood at 669,749 MWh, data by Elexon, the Balancing and Settlement Code Company (BSCCo) show. Biomass power was 8.97% of that.

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https://renewablesnow.com/news/wind-generates-over-27-of-uk-electricity-on-oct-22-630811/

The Mozambican government has approved an integrated electricity infrastructure plan for the next 25 years. Budgeted at US $34bn, the plan will to ensure the diversification of energy sources, including hydropower, natural gas and coal.

According to Ana Comoana the Deputy of Culture and Tourism Minister, the objective of this master plan is to establish the integrated planning of electricity infrastructures, which clearly defines projections of domestic consumption needs as well as export needs.

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Mozambique approves US $34bn Integrated Master Plan for electricity infrastructure