Page 10 - AfrElec Week 34 2021
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AfrElec ESKOM AfrElec
SA Minister Mantashe hits out
at Eskom’s coal closure plan
SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH African Mineral Resources and Energy capacity by 2030, 30% of its current installed cap-
Minister Gwede Mantashe has dubbed Eskom’s city of 42,000 MW.
plans to gradually close coal-fired power plants Eskom, which is Africa’s biggest greenhouse
and build renewables capacity as “economic gas (GHG) emitter, is pitching a $10bn plan to
suicide.” global lenders that would see it shut the vast
His comments come as Eskom plans to build majority of its coal-fired plants by 2050 and
7,400 MW of green capacity, while closing some embrace renewable energy, a company official
coal plants earlier than required by the govern- told Reuters in June.
ment’s Integrated Resource Plan. It has identified the Komati power station as
“While it may be tempting to demand that the first for closure, in October 2021.
the developed world should decarbonise, and Eskom plans to replace the plant with solar
allow South Africa to fuel its growth with coal, PV, with a plant equipped with a 244-MWh bat-
the reality is starkly different. Our economy, on tery storage system.
a per capita basis, is 25% more carbon inten- By 2025, three other coal-fired power plants
sive than China, and double the global average. will close permanently – Grootvlei (1,200 MW),
South Africa emits roughly half the total carbon Hendrina (2,000 MW) and Camden (1,561
emitted by the African continent, and Eskom MW), all in Mpumalanga Province.
emits about 44% of the total South African car- Eskom is expected to get rid of most of its
bon emissions. We therefore cannot ignore our coal-fired power stations by 2050 through a
carbon footprint,” Eskom CEO André de Ruyter $10bn investment in renewable energy.
said earlier in August. At the same time, Eskom has continued to
He warned that South Africa could not build coal-fired power, and in July commis-
operate in a vacuum, with the country par- sioned the 4,800-MW Madupi coal-fired power
ticularly exposed to Europe’s proposed Green station in Lephalale, Limpopo Province.
Deal changes, which could slap heavy taxes on The closures come as Eskom has a net debt of
exports. ZAR485bn ($33.2bn) and relies on government
Eskom now plans to close 12,000 MW of coal subsidies to cover its operating costs.
P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 34 26•August•2021
