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Green cooperation speeds up South Africa’s steps in energy transition

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BEIJING, Aug. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A report from People’s Daily: “Just a bit further ahead, and we’ll be able to see our solar tower,” said Li Quanxiang, project manager of the 100-megawatt Redstone Concentrated Solar Thermal Power, a solar power tower with molten salt energy storage in South Africa’s Northern Cape province, when a massive gray-white tower gradually came into view as his car drove through the vast desert.

The project, built by SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of PowerChina, is the first molten salt solar thermal project in sub-Saharan Africa.

“The solar tower is nearly 250 meters tall, about the height of a 100-story building. At the very top is a heat collection device, which absorbs sunlight reflected from mirrors on the ground. Solar energy is converted into thermal energy, which is then transformed into electrical power,” Li said.

It is learned that the project has a designed capacity of 100 megawatts. It is expected to supply 480 gigawatt-hours of electricity to South Africa’s power grid annually, providing electricity to 200,000 South African households.

“This project is the largest investment in the Northern Cape province and is part of South Africa’s renewable energy procurement program. It has strategic significance for achieving South Africa’s energy transition goals,” said Northern Cape Premier Zamani Saul

He said that the project has created over 600 direct jobs for the local community, with employment reaching its highest point at about 1,800 workers during construction, making a significant contribution to local economic and social development.

The 100-megawatt Redstone Concentrated Solar Thermal Power project is an epitome of the deepening energy cooperation between China and South Africa. During his visit to the project, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa noted that the Chinese enterprise has achieved world-leading standards in engineering quality and technological advancements, and the smooth progress of the project will bring significant benefits to the South African people.

South Africa isn’t just rich in solar resources; it also has enormous potential for wind power generation. According to estimates, over 80 percent of South Africa’s territory enjoys the natural conditions for wind power development. The eastern and southern coastal areas, in particular, are prime locations for wind power projects and have become pioneering sites for wind energy cooperation between China and South Africa.

Goldwind, a Chinese wind turbine manufacturer, entered the South African market in 2015. Since then, the company has built and been operating two wind power projects in the Eastern Cape Province. With a total installed capacity of 152.5 megawatts, these projects supply green, clean electricity to 155,000 South African households annually.

In 2017, the De Aar wind power project, developed by the South African subsidiary of China’s Longyuan Power, began operations in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is the first wind power project in Africa invested, built and operated by a Chinese power company.

According to engineer Liu Lei of the project, these wind turbines have a main tower height of 80 meters and a rotor blade diameter of 86 meters. The project comprises a total of 163 turbines. With an average annual power generation of 760 million kilowatt-hours, the project supplies electricity to thousands of South African households.

As a landmark achievement of China-South Africa cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, the De Aar wind power project not only supports local economic and social development with green electricity but also maintains the local ecological balance through environmentally friendly practices.

During a visit to the wind farm, the reporter noticed springboks appearing intermittently in the distance and eagles occasionally circling in the sky. A local said, “At the top of each power pole, we’ve installed perches for birds to reduce the harm that transmission equipment might cause to them. The company conducts long-term monitoring of animals and plants within the wind farm and hires ecological experts for assessments to ensure the project’s sustainable development.”

“The De Aar wind power project is a flagship project showcasing win-win cooperation between South Africa and China in the new energy sector,” said the house chairperson for committees at the National Assembly of South Africa ,Cedric Thomas Frolick .

He added, “South Africa is expanding its renewable energy development and enhancing its green energy supply capacity. We hope Chinese companies will leverage their technological and innovative advantages to actively participate in the construction of new energy projects in South Africa.”

“Looking ahead, cooperation in new energy sector is likely to become a new area of growth and highlight in the economic and trade relations between our two countries,” said Chen Xiaodong, former Chinese Ambassador to South Africa.

He emphasized that China and South Africa share common development needs and have strong complementary advantages in the new energy sector, which enables them to be reliable friends and strong partners in each other’s economic and social transformation.

“The various collaborations in the energy sector exemplify the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between South Africa and China, and also serve as evidence of the continuously deepening relationship between the two countries,” said Paul Zilungisele Tembe, a South African expert on Chinese affairs.

“South Africa is one of the African countries with the largest stock of Chinese investment. China has invested a total of over $25 billion in South Africa, creating more than 400,000 jobs. I believe that as cooperation continues to deepen, the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries will achieve even greater development,” the expert noted.

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De¹ Introduces Tokenized Asset World on BNB Chain, Developing Financial Intelligence Across the Full RWA Financial Landscape

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October 19, 2026

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NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — De¹ is launching Tokenized Asset World on BNB Chain, the first domain-specific world under its Financial World Model (FWM). It introduces specialized financial intelligence designed to understand the full onchain RWA landscape, from trading and collateral to borrowing, credit, liquidation and agent activity, and apply that knowledge to real financial decisions.

Traditional finance moves assets through separate networks of brokers, custodians, clearing systems and lenders. Each institution sees a different part of the lifecycle, while transfers, reconciliation and collateral requirements add friction to capital deployment. Bringing assets onchain makes financial activity more programmable, but it does not automatically connect the knowledge held across trading, financing and risk systems.

De¹ is establishing Tokenized Asset World on BNB Chain, where that real-assets financial ecosystem already unfolds in live markets. PancakeSwap, ListaDAO, Venus, Binance Agent OS and BNB Agent SDK span public trading, collateralized lending, structured credit and authorized agent activity. These activities produce distinct signals: executed prices, liabilities, vault constraints, liquidations and the outcomes of agent actions.

Tokenized Asset World brings fragmented financial knowledge into a coherent, learnable model of the full RWA landscape. The domain model is designed to understand the relationships and consequences across financial operations, with verified execution outcomes continuously refining De¹’s understanding of onchain financial physics. This introduces a new layer of intelligence to BNB Chain, enabling a more complete understanding of the tokenized-asset stack across trading, collateral, credit, vaults and agent activity.

AI agents can tap into this intelligence to operate across tokenized-asset markets with a more comprehensive view of liquidity, borrowing conditions, collateral exposure and liquidation risk as a whole. This deeper market understanding could raise more sophisticated strategies, execution and risk decisions. Each agent interaction, in turn, generates new evidence for the model, creating a continuous feedback loop between financial intelligence and live market execution while strengthening De¹’s broader Financial World Model.

About De¹

De¹ is the intelligent infrastructure platform at the intersection of DeFi and AI, building the Financial World Model grounded in live execution and real market feedback. It serves developers, traders, institutions, and AI agents through intelligent execution, unified liquidity, reinforcement learning optimization, and a continuously evolving data flywheel.

Contact: Marketing, pr@de1.ai

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Plata reaches $1 Billion ARR Milestone, becoming the fastest digital bank ever

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October 19, 2026

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The Mexico based digital bank shatters traditional digital banking scaling timelines, reaching a $1 Billion Annual Recurring Revenue  in less than 3.5 years from launch

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Plata, the world’s fastest growing digital financial institution, today announced that in September 2026 it has crossed $1 billion in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), reaching the milestone in less than 3.5 years from launch in April 2023 and less than a year after receiving its full banking license. Plata´s growth makes it the fastest digital bank in history to reach this benchmark, and puts it on par with some of the world’s fastest growing leading AI companies, underlining Plata’s own AI and tech capabilities.

Plata reaches this goal after having reached more than 4 million customers in Mexico and having launched operations in Colombia at the beginning of September. In Mexico, Plata is now the fourth credit card issuer in the country by number of customers, and the only digital bank with a full product suite including credit, debit, investments, and small business banking. Plata’s growth is also nearing profitability, which is expected to be reached for its Mexico business within the next 6 months.

Plata changed the rules by building a universal financial platform powered by its own technology from day one. By setting up its core banking system, the company proved that regulated financial institutions can scale at AI-like speed without undermining operating performance.

“By building our own technology from scratch, we proved that a bank can move at AI company speed without compromising anything. Now we are ready to accelerate our innovation, make finance effortless and accessible for everyone.” Neri Tollardo, CEO of Plata.

As digital adoption accelerates across Latin America, Plata´s performance sets a new benchmark for financial infrastructure scaling, financial adoption, and operational efficiency in emerging markets.

About Plata

Plata is the fastest-growing financial institution in Latin America and the largest private digital bank by customer volume. In less than three years, we reached a valuation of $3.1 billion with 4 million active credit card customers and crossed $1 billion in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). Backed by $1.5 billion in equity investment, 1.5 in financing, and a workforce that includes 800 in-house developers, in Banco Plata we have built our own technological ecosystem, which includes a core banking system, CRM, and an app focused on simplifying the financial experience.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/plata-reaches-1-billion-arr-milestone-becoming-the-fastest-digital-bank-ever-302912970.html

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Trends International Announces Kenneth Smith as President and Chief Executive Officer

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31 minutes ago

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October 19, 2026

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Experienced executive to lead company’s next phase of retail, digital commerce and strategic growth

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Trends International, LLC, a leading publisher and manufacturer of licensed posters, calendars, stickers, wall art and social stationery products, today announced that Kenneth Smith has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, effective May 2026.

Smith will spearhead the company’s overall strategic direction and growth initiatives across its retail, wholesale, e-commerce, licensing and direct-to-consumer businesses. In his role, Smith will oversee Trends International and its portfolio of digital businesses, including Art.com and AllPosters.com.

Smith’s appointment comes as Trends International enters a new phase of expansion focused on broadening its retail presence, accelerating e-commerce, strengthening strategic customer relationships, developing new products and licenses, and pursuing partnerships and business opportunities.

“I am honored to lead Trends International and build on the strong foundation established by the company, its founders and its talented employees,” said Kenneth Smith, “We have an exceptional portfolio of brands, licenses, products and customer relationships, and we see significant opportunities to grow the business. Our focus will be on strengthening our retail partnerships, accelerating our digital businesses, developing innovative products and creating new strategic opportunities that deliver value for our customers, consumers, licensors and partners.”

Expanding Retail and Digital Footprint
Under Smith’s leadership, Trends International will continue to invest in its core retail business while broadening its digital commerce capabilities.

The company is focused on deepening relationships with major retailers, expanding distribution, improving merchandising, and developing new product platforms designed to create incremental sales opportunities.

Trends will also continue to build Trends Digital, bringing together the company’s e-commerce capabilities and creating a platform for future digital growth and potential e-commerce acquisitions.

The company’s digital portfolio includes Art.com and AllPosters.com, providing consumers with access to millions of images, posters, prints, wall art, and complementary décor.

“Trends has a tremendous opportunity to build upon its heritage while positioning the company for the future,” Smith said. “We are focused on growth, but equally important is how we achieve that growth — through strong customer partnerships, disciplined execution, innovation and a culture that empowers our people to succeed.”

Strategic Priorities
Smith’s leadership agenda includes several key areas of focus:

Retail growth — Expand relationships and sales with major national retailers and specialty channels.Product innovation — Develop new product formats, displays and seasonal programs that create incremental retail opportunities.Digital commerce — Accelerate the growth of Trends Digital, Art.com and AllPosters.com.Strategic partnerships — Forge new licensing, brand and business partnerships that expand the company’s market opportunity.Operational excellence — Improve organizational alignment, processes, technology, and execution across the company’s businesses.Talent and culture — Build a high-performing organization focused on accountability, innovation, customer service and sustainable growth.

“Kenneth brings a strong combination of leadership, customer focus and business development experience to Trends International,” said Phil St. Jean, Founder and Co-Executive Chairman of Trends International. “His vision for the company and his commitment to our customers, employees and partners make him the right leader for this next chapter. We are excited about what the future holds for Trends International and its businesses.”

About Kenneth Smith
Kenneth Smith is an experienced business executive with a background in sales leadership, strategic account development, business development, customer relationships, and organizational transformation. Throughout his career, Smith has focused on developing strategic growth initiatives, building high-performing teams, and creating long-term partnerships with major customers and business partners.

As president and chief executive officer of Trends International, Smith is responsible for the company’s overall strategy, growth, organizational leadership and business performance.

About Trends International
Trends International, LLC is a leading publisher and manufacturer of licensed posters, calendars, stickers, wall art and social stationery products. Established in 1987, Trends built its business around strong partnerships between licensors, retailers and licensees. Today, the company delivers a broad portfolio of licensed and proprietary products distributed through major retail, specialty, and digital channels.

Art.com, acquired by Trends International in 2023, is a leading online specialty retailer of high-quality wall art and complementary décor. The business offers millions of images and products through its digital commerce platform and interactive visualization tools.

AllPosters.com, part of the Trends International family of businesses, offers consumers a broad selection of posters, prints and wall décor.

For more information about Trends International, Art.com, AllPosters.com or Kenneth Smith, contact:

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SOURCE Trends International

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