JSE-listed group Sasol expects to conclude power purchase agreements for 600 MW of renewable energy “imminently” as it moves ahead with plans to meet a 2030 target of reducing its greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by 30%, while sustaining energy and chemical production volumes. The renewables electricity will be wheeled to the group’s South African operations through the Eskom grid by 2025 and Sasol expects to add a further 600 MW of renewables by 2030.
Financial services firm Nedbank expects South Africa’s economic growth to remain below 2% over the next two to three years until more power generation comes online. Additional power generation capacity would result in greater energy certainty and provide an incentive for more investment in the country.
Eskom has said it will meet the deadline to get a steam generator that suffered minor damage when it was dropped at a Chinese factory to Koeberg Unit 1 by December this year. An Eskom delegation updated a joint meeting of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises and the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy on concerns with getting a unit at Koeberg in Cape Town ready for operation.
President Cyril Ramaphosa promised in late July to implement emergency measures within three months to tackle record blackouts. But those have only been partially implemented and outages continue. Ramaphosa plans to deal with energy-related issues when he addresses parliament in Cape Town on Thursday, his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said. He declined to comment on the specifics.
Severe damage to a chimney at Kusile is the latest blow to the beleaguered power station. On Wednesday, Eskom said that the flue gas duct at Unit 1 of the Mpumalanga power station “failed” in two places on October 23.