ESKOM, South Africa’s state-owned power utility, was urgently attempting to procure coal in order to help it manage the risk of load shedding, said Bloomberg News citing Khulu Phasiwe, the company’s spokesman.
“Eskom is pursuing urgent coal purchasing from current suppliers and those suppliers that are currently not contracted,” Phasiwe told the newswire service. “The risk of load shedding is always there, the difference is how we manage it,” he said. There are low stock levels at 11 stations, said Bloomberg News.
In October, Exxaro Resources said it was helping to plug a looming short-term coal supply deficit for Eskom. “We have made offers to Eskom, they have from what I hear, approved those offers,” said Mxolisi Mgojo, CEO of Exxaro in an interview with Reuters.
“The final decision is sitting with the (state) Treasury to enable them to execute those contracts,” he added. However, there wasn’t much appetite for concluding long-term deals, he said. Eskom needed three million tonnes of coal to close its deficit but it was also looking to stockpile a further 10 million tonnes, said Phasiwe at the time.
Eskom said in September that some of its power stations had less than 10 days of coal stocks available.
