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Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon O'Donnell.

Making headlines today:

South African nuclear technology firm, Pebble Bed Modular Reactor, plans to have its first 80 megawatt power and heat processing plant based on its pebble-fuel technology, by 2018.

Spokesperson for PBMR, Tom Ferreira, said that the timeline for the launch of the plant had been delayed after the company decided to change its designs to attract more investments and bridge a funding gap.

However, he said that if everything goes smoothly, PBMR will have the first plant producing electricity or process heat, which is used to produce cleaner gases and liquid fuels, by 2018.

The company had initially planned to build a power plant by 2014 to boost generation capacity at state-owned utility Eskom, which has been battling to fill a dire power shortage, and help reduce the utility's carbon footprint.

But the global economic slowdown has forced the company to change the design to include industrial applications as well, using PBMR's ability to create high temperatures to attract buyers among companies including those active in Canada's oil sands projects and petrochemicals group Sasol.

South Africa's Communications Minister, Siphiwe Nyanda, said that a strategy to build a set-top-box manufacturing base in South Africa, as the country's migration to digital broadcasting, is making progress.

He reported that the work to finalise the set-top-box manufacturing sector development strategy was at an "advanced stage". The strategy would promote collaboration between government and the industry.

Nyanda said that while the department recognised the complexity of the digital migration process, significant progress has been made to meet the November first, 2011 analogue switch-off date.

He said that it was envisaged that the digital migration programme would assist in re-skilling, job creation, and the transformation of the sector.

Also making headlines:

South Africa's new energy Minister promises "emphatic decisions" about the future of Eskom's nuclear build programme.
South Africa targets 400 MW of wind energy within three years.
Telecommunications operator Telkom will cut its capital expenditure by 40% over 5 years.
And, Government is still backing the new Coega refinery.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit engineeringnews.co.za.