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The Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries of South Africa dismissed appeals brought by the Centre for Environmental Rights and the North Western Cape Mining Forum against an Environmental Authorisation (EA) granted to Mineral Sands Resources (Pty) Ltd. The EA was issued under section 24G of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) to rectify the unlawful commencement of listed activities—specifically the clearance of vegetation and the construction of a process water dam—on the farm Geelwal Karoo 262 in the Western Cape Province.

This industry brief by GreenCape examines the financial viability of using battery energy storage systems (BESS) for tariff arbitrage in the Western Cape, South Africa. It focuses on leveraging time-of-use (TOU) tariffs to reduce energy costs by charging batteries during off-peak periods and discharging during peak periods, particularly as the decline in loadshedding has left many existing BESS installations underutilised.

This industry brief by GreenCape reviews water and sanitation by-laws across municipalities in the Western Cape, South Africa. It evaluates the completeness and clarity of these local regulations against a 2005 model by-law, highlighting the implications for businesses—particularly water-intensive industries—regarding fees, audits, industrial effluent, and alternative water sources.

This report by GreenCape evaluates the financial and operational feasibility of installing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems on agricultural packhouses, using a modelled apple packhouse to demonstrate the business case. It highlights that the primary value of these systems comes from replacing expensive grid electricity during peak daytime demand—driven by cooling and packing activities—rather than selling excess power back to the grid. The analysis concludes that while large-scale systems are consistently profitable, smaller installations require favorable financing to be viable.