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Breaking news and analyst commentary on the ever-changing energy sector in South Africa. Including conventional and renewable energy sectors and the latest energy producing and storing technologies.
Olga Constantatos of Futuregrowth discusses David Masondo’s controversial debt-for-climate-swap proposal and what this could mean in respect of Eskom’s debt.
About 1,000MW of capacity is set to be decommissioned annually over the next decade – an opportunity to begin overhauling the energy system. But how?
Eskom is considering “8,017 megawatts of projects, ranging from wind power to solar, hydropower and gas,” reports Bloomberg.
With protesting and cold weather expected this week, Eskom has urged the public to reduce electricity usage, with load shedding a possibility.
SA failed to build new power stations when economic growth and aging plants demanded it. The result? Load shedding, a thorn in SA’s side since 2007.
Sibusiso Ntshalintshali of Ethekwini’s municipality told Bloomberg that the city will seek proposals for private power generation from any technology.
“This is a corrupt deal because the investors in Seriti are Batho Batho Trust and Thebe Investment, both investment arms of the ANC,” said Ted Blom.
“Delays to the projects will extend debilitating energy shortages that President Ramaphosa said are a ‘massive risk’ for the economy,” says Bloomberg.
In a shock announcement yesterday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the cap for private power generation without a licence would be raised from 1MW to 100MW.
Just 18 months in the hot seat and Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter has reduced debt by over R90bn – remarkable, but there’s still R400bn to pay back.