Sasol Injects R15 Million into Rural Energy for the Poor.Business Editors JOHANNESBURG, South Africa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 19, 2003 Sasol is investing R15million in a project to help Government set up ten Integrated Energy Centres (IeC's) over the next three years to make energy more accessible and affordable to the rural poor of South Africa South Africa, Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. . The envisaged Integrated Energy Centres will be located as centrally as possible to specific communities and surrounding villages and it is intended to exclude as many middle men in the distribution value chain as possible. Sasol chief executive, Pieter Cox, says: "Instead of wholesalers, distributors, routers and spaza shop involvement, energy products will be delivered directly to the Integrated Energy Centre that will become sole wholesaler and distributor. "Feasibility studies are currently underway to determine the best suited products which could range from liquid petroleum gas (LPG LPG: see liquefied petroleum gas. 1. LPG - Linguaggio Procedure Grafiche (Italian for "Graphical Procedures Language"). dott. Gabriele Selmi. Roughly a cross between Fortran and APL, with graphical-oriented extensions and several peculiarities. ), paraffin, electricity and solar energy solar energy, any form of energy radiated by the sun, including light, radio waves, and X rays, although the term usually refers to the visible light of the sun. to coal." The IeC concept stems from President Thabo Mbeki's Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy (ISRDS ISRDS International Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems ), which is presently being implemented by the South African Government. It aims to assist the rural poor by coordinating service delivery and providing infrastructure. The Department of Minerals and Energy (DME (Distributed Management Environment) A network monitoring and control protocol defined by the Open Software Foundation (now The Open Group). DME was not widely used. DME - Distributed Management Environment ) regards energy as the prime catalyst for socio-economic development and has identified IeC's as prime growth drivers for capacity building within poor communities. The DME decided to focus on educating and training communities on energy conservation issues and to establish energy shops for the actual provision of different forms of energy to communities in partnership with the private sector. Sasol has already provided more than R400 000 for a training programme for persons who will be involved in the setting up and running of the IeC. More than 50 candidates from all provinces were trained under the guidance of the Department of Minerals and Energy during 2002. Sasol and the DME have identified Embahlenhle in Mpumalanga and QwaQwa in the Free State as its first two sites. The process of community consultation and the appointment of consultants to undertake feasibility studies is currently underway. The other eight sites will be determined in line with the nodes identified in the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy Plan and will fall within the areas of: KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, as well as the eastern portion of the Cape Province. , Free State, Northern Cape For other uses, see North Cape (disambiguation). The Northern Cape is a large, sparsely populated province of South Africa, created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. , Northern Province and Mpumalanga. Sasol's R15 million investment includes the establishment cost for the ten IeC's, including feasibility studies, construction of the energy shops and the initial supply of products and services. Sasol, established in 1950, is a world-leader in the commercial production of liquid fuels and chemicals from coal and crude oil. The company has sales of more than US $6-billion per year and is listed on the JSE JSE See: Johannesburg Stock Exchange Securities Exchange (SOL) with a market capitalisation of more than US$7-billion and on NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on (SASOY) in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Sasol manufactures more than 200 fuel and chemical products at its plants in Sasolburg and Secunda in South Africa as well as at several plants abroad. Its products are exported to more than 90 countries around the world. The company has developed world-leading technology for the commercial production of synthetic fuels and chemicals from low-grade coal as well as the conversion of natural gas to environment-friendly diesel and chemicals. Internet address: www.sasol.com |
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