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Bethlehem Hydro
Bethlehem Hydro owns and operates two small hydro power plants situated in the Dihlabeng Local Municipality (Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality) in the Free State province of South Africa. The scheme utilizes the water supplied to South Africa by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which releases water into the As River via a tunnel outlet near the town of Clarens. South Africa has limited potential for hydro energy due to low average annual rainfall making projects like Bethlehem Hydro rare. The project was identified in 1999 and developed by NuPlanet Project Development. The two power stations in the scheme will cut back carbon dioxide emissions by 33,000 tons per year by reducing the demand for traditional fossil-fuel power stations. Sol Plaatje Power Station The Sol Plaatje Power Station was the first commercial small hydro power station constructed in South Africa for 22 years. It was commissioned in November 2009 and is located close to Bethlehem, Free State. The pow ...
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Dihlabeng Local Municipality
Dihlabeng Local Municipality is an administrative area in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District of the Free State in South Africa. It was established in terms of Section 12 of the Local Government Structures Act, 117 of 1998, after the first general local government elections of 5 December 2000 which heralded the final phase of local government reform as envisaged in 1994 at the onset of the process of democratisation. The Municipality is a category B as defined in the Local Government Structures Act and shares executive and legislative authority with the category C municipality within whose area it falls i.e. Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality. The type is that of a Collective Executive System combined with a Ward Participatory System. Geography The Dihlabeng Local Municipality is situated within the boundaries of the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality in the Eastern Free State. The geographical area is 7550.4910 km2. The Municipality consists of the towns Bethlehe ...
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Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality
Thabo Mofutsanyana is one of the 5 districts of the Free State province of South Africa. The seat of Thabo Mofutsanyana is Witsieshoek. The majority of its 725 932 people speak Sesotho (2001 Census). The district code is DC19 Geography Neighbours Thabo Mofutsanyana is surrounded by: * Fezile Dabi to the north (DC20) * Gert Sibande in Mpumalanga to the north-east (DC30) * Amajuba in Kwa-Zulu Natal to the east (DC25) * Uthukela to the south-east (DC23) * The kingdom of Lesotho to the south * Mangaung Metro to the south-west * Lejweleputswa to the west (DC18) Local municipalities The district contains the following local municipalities: Demographics The following statistics are from the 2011 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl .... Gender Ethnic group ...
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South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. It also completely enclaves the country Lesotho. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with unique biomes, plant and animal life. With over 60 million people, the country is the world's 24th-most populous nation and covers an area of . South Africa has three capital cities, with the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government based in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town respectively. The largest city is Johannesburg. About 80% of the population are Black Sou ...
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Lesotho Highlands Water Project
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is an ongoing water supply project with a hydropower component, developed in partnership between the governments of Lesotho and South Africa. It comprises a system of several large dams and tunnels throughout Lesotho and delivers water to the Vaal River System in South Africa. In Lesotho, it involves the rivers Malibamatso, Matsoku, Senqunyane, and Senqu. It is Africa's largest water transfer scheme. The purpose of the project is to provide Lesotho with a source of revenue in exchange for the provision of water to South Africa, as well as generate hydroelectricity for Lesotho. As of 2015, royalties paid by South Africa to the Lesotho government amount to R780 million (approximately €50 million), equivalent to about 5% of Lesotho’s state income outside of taxes. The hydro-electric power has enabled Lesotho to become self-sufficient in electricity production, however criticisms have included loss of livelihoods for displaced peopl ...
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As River
The As River is a tributary of the Liebenbergsvlei River in the eastern Free State, South Africa. Since 1968 it is impounded by the Sol Plaatje Dam (formerly: Saulspoort Dam) at its confluence with the latter river, just east of Bethlehem. Its origin is some 35 km southeast of Bethlehem, on the northern slopes of the Rooiberge, near Clarens. With the opening of the northern delivery tunnel of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project in 1998, the once tiny stream was transformed to a strong-flowing river. Water delivery The As River is one of the discharge points for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. As of 2004, 18 cubic meters of water was released per second, and the river's flow is consequently not seasonally variable. The Stortemelk Dam, situated downstream of the outfall, was one measure taken by the then Department of Water Affairs, to stabilize water flow and limit erosion. By 2004, four weirs had been built. Power generation Two privately owned hydro powered powe ...
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Clarens, Free State
Clarens is a small town situated in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains in the Free State province of South Africa and nicknamed the "Jewel of the Eastern Free State". It was established in 1912 and named after the town of Clarens in Switzerland where exiled Paul Kruger spent his last days. It is situated 336 km from Johannesburg, 284 km from Bloemfontein, 389 km from Durban. History A farm called "Leliehoek" (English: Lily Corner) was bought from Hermanus Steyn in 1910, and in 1911 Piet de Villiers sold his farm "Naauwpoort" (situated near the Titanic rock) to a company wanting to establish a village there. These two farms were divided into erven and sold for fifty pounds each. A commission was appointed in 1912 to finalize negotiations, and a decision was made to name the village "Clarens" in honour of President Paul Kruger’s influence in the area. This came about in the following way - during the Free State-Basotho War of 1865 - 1866, five "burgers" fr ...
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Hydro Energy
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewable energy, renewable sources combined and also more than nuclear power. Hydropower can provide large amounts of Low-carbon power, low-carbon electricity on demand, making it a key element for creating secure and clean electricity supply systems. A hydroelectric power station that has a dam and reservoir is a flexible source, since the amount of electricity produced can be increased or decreased in seconds or minutes in response to varying electricity demand. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, it produces no direct waste, and almost always emits considerably less greenhouse gas than fossil fuel-powered energy plants.
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Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and large oil and gas companies, many state-owned by OPEC and Russia. Human-caused emissions have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by about 50% over pre-industrial levels. The growing levels of emissions have varied, but it was consistent among all greenhouse gases (GHG). Emissions in the 2010s averaged 56 billion tons a year, higher than ever before. Electricity generation and transport are major emitters; the largest single source, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, is transportation, accounting for 27% of all USA greenhouse gas emissions. Deforestation and other changes in land use also emit carbon dioxide and methane. The largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions is agriculture, closely follow ...
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Fossil-fuel Power Station
A fossil fuel power station is a thermal power station which burns a fossil fuel, such as coal or natural gas, to produce electricity. Fossil fuel power stations have machinery to convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical energy, which then operates an electrical generator. The prime mover may be a steam turbine, a gas turbine or, in small plants, a reciprocating gas engine. All plants use the energy extracted from the expansion of a hot gas, either steam or combustion gases. Although different energy conversion methods exist, all thermal power station conversion methods have their efficiency limited by the Carnot efficiency and therefore produce waste heat. Fossil fuel power stations provide most of the electrical energy used in the world. Some fossil-fired power stations are designed for continuous operation as baseload power plants, while others are used as peaker plants. However, starting from the 2010s, in many countries plants designed for baseload supply are ...
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Sol Plaatje Power Station
Sol or SOL may refer to: Astronomy * The Sun Currency * SOL Project, a currency project in France * French sol, or sou * Argentine sol * Bolivian sol, the currency of Bolivia from 1827 to 1864 * Peruvian sol, introduced in 1991 * Peruvian sol (1863–1985) *Solana (blockchain platform) (SOL), a cryptocurrency Entertainment, arts and media Music * G (musical note) or sol, a note of the solfege music scale * G major or sol, a musical key * Sol (band), a Canadian indie rock band active in the 1990s * ''Sol'' (album), an album by electronic musician Eskmo * ''Sol'', an album by Ougenweide * ''Shit Out of Luck'', a 1996 album by The Lillingtons Gaming * ''SOL'', or '' The Shadows of Luclin'', an expansion to ''Everquest'' computer game * Sol Badguy, a character in the ''Guilty Gear'' video games * ''Sol Squadron'', an enemy squadron in the video game Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Newspapers * ''Sol'' (newspaper), a weekly newspaper published in Portugal * ''soL'' (newsp ...
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Bethlehem, Free State
Bethlehem is a town in the eastern Free State province of South Africa that is situated on the Liebenbergs river (also called Liebenbergs Vlei) along a fertile valley just north of the Rooiberg Mountains on the N5 road. It is the fastest growing town in the Free state province, with its target of being the third largest city after Bloemfontein and Welkom. It is a wheat growing area and named after the biblical Bethlehem, from he, בֵּית לֶחֶם ("Beit Lechem"), meaning "house of bread". The town lies at an altitude of and this contributes to its cool climate with frosty winters and mild summers. The average annual temperature is around . Bethlehem is situated approximately north-east of Bloemfontein, east of Kroonstad and west of Harrismith. The town is strategically situated in the heart of the picturesque north-eastern Free State and originally developed as a service centre. Bethlehem is the seat of the Dihlabeng Local Municipality (this municipality is situat ...
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Kaplan Turbine
The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to achieve efficiency over a wide range of flow and water level. The Kaplan turbine was an evolution of the Francis turbine. Its invention allowed efficient power production in low- head applications which was not possible with Francis turbines. The head ranges from and the output ranges from 5 to 200 MW. Runner diameters are between . Turbines rotate at a constant rate, which varies from facility to facility. That rate ranges from as low as 54.5 rpm ( Albeni Falls Dam) to 450 rpm. Kaplan turbines are now widely used throughout the world in high-flow, low-head power production. Development Viktor Kaplan, living in Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czechia), obtained his first patent for an adjustable blade propeller turbine in 1912 ...
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