Wednesday, June 3, 2009.

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

Making headlines today:

A study by climate change and sustainable development consultancy Camco has indicated that large-scale solar photovoltaic power projects (over 1 MW) could easily be added to South Africa's existing renewable energy feed-in tariff.

Admittedly more expensive, the suggested tariff for these large scale solar PV projects was R2,98 a kilo Watt hour. Camco said that although solar PV was a relatively expensive technology, there were a number of overall socio-economic benefits and long-term opportunities that could be achieved through the growth of the solar PV market in South Africa.

The National Energy regulator of South Africa released its Refit in March this year, and included the technologies of wind, small-scale hydro, landfill gas and concentrating solar power. Solar PV was excluded, although Nersa indicated that it, and biomass, could be included at a later stage.

On Tuesday, US vehicle manufacturer General Motors said that it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with a buyer for its off-road Hummer brand.

The company first announced in June last year that it was undertaking a strategic review of the Hummer brand.

GM produces the Hummer at two locations, in the US, and in South Africa, at General Motors South Africa's Port Elizabeth plant.

GM African Operations president and MD Steve Koch said that the terms of the MOU didn't yet allow the buyer to be named.

He added that it was quite clear that the Hummer wouldn't be produced in South Africa again, unless the deal fell through.

Also making headlines:

The Air France Airbus loss is likely to remain mystery for a while yet.
ArcelorMittal South Africa is still considering corporate BEE, as it rolls-out its preferential procurement pilot.
A new Chrysler emerges from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
And, car and truck sales are still in reverse.

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