miningmx

Eskom must decide new plant this year

Allan Seccombe | Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:19
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[miningmx.com] -- SOUTH African power utility Eskom will decide this year on building another large power station as the coal sector faces R100bn bill over the next decade to build 40 new mines, half of which will be to supply Eskom alone, said Ras Myburgh, consultant to the group.

The situation at Eskom is better than it was a year ago. “It is critical but not hopeless,” Myburgh said at the South African Coal Exports Conference in Cape Town.

South Africa is returning mothballed power plants to production as well as activating gas turbines, all of which will add 1,000 megawatts (MW) of power to the grid this year.

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Eskom plans to spend R343bn by 2013, rising to more than one trillion rand by 2026 to double capacity to 80,000 MW.

Its future projects are the Medupi and Kusile coal-fired plants of 4,800 MW each as well as the Ingula pump storage scheme at a total cost of R227bn.

A decision on another big new project has to be made this year, Myburgh told the conference.

Myburgh was seconded by Anglo American from his role as CEO at their Kumba Iron Ore subsidiary last year to assist Eskom resolve its coal supply problems after the utility ran into difficulties and forced a closure of South African mines for a week last January.

Myburgh told Miningmx that his return to the Anglo stable at the end of his two-year secondment in June 2010 is not clear cut and that it might be wiser if he renewed his agreement to assist Eskom.

Eskom, which has 38 days worth of coal stocks, a far cry from a year ago, will burn 200 million tonnes of coal annually by 2018. This compares to 125 million tonnes currently.



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