Page 5 - AfrElec Week 33 2021

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Eskom to close up to 12,000 MW of coal capacity
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH Africa’s state-owned Eskom said that it plans to reduce its output of coal-fired power by 8,000 to 12,000 MW through plant closures over the next decade - a cut that amounts to up to 30% of its current capacity.
The mothballed Komati power station, brought back to service in the early 2000s to help deal with chronic electricity shortages in Afri- ca’s most advanced economy, will be completely closed by October next year, Eskom said on Twit- ter, Reuters reported.
Eskom, which is Africa’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, is pitching a $10bn plan to global lenders that would see it shut the vast majority of its coal-fired plants by 2050 and embrace renew- able energy, a company official told Reuters in June.
Komati was ideally positioned to be a flagship “Just Energy Transition” project.
Similar projects were planned at the Groot- vlei, Hendrina and Camden power plants, all of which were scheduled for closure by 2025.
Eskom, which is heavily indebted, said it wanted to act as an anchor market for electric vehicles, which it sees as an important growth opportunity for its business.
The closures come as Eskom has a net debt of ZAR485bn ($33.2bn) and relies on government subsidies to cover its operating costs.
Meanwhile, the company warned of more loadshedding this week, as the power system was under “severe pressure.”
“While the system is currently performing relatively well, with no load shedding being implemented, a further loss of generation capacity would force Eskom to implement load shedding at short notice in order to protect the integrity of the system, particularly between 18:00 and 21:00,” on August 19 the company said in a notice.
A fleet of ageing coal-fired plants provides
most of South Africa’s electricity needs, but a lack
of investment and poor maintenance has led to
regular blackouts that have scared investors and
cost the economy billions of dollars in lost out-
put. Eskom currently has a nominal installed
powercapacityofabout42,000MW. Breakdownscurrentlytotal13557MW,while
“Eskom plans to repower Komati using planned maintenance is at 4 074MW of capacity, solar photovoltaic (PV) plant supported by 244 the company said ™ MWhbatterystorage,”thefirmsaid,addingthat
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