Eskom CEO sees South African gas as key in transition from coal

South Africa’s State power utility Eskom favours burning more domestically sourced gas as it transitions away from coal, its Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter said. With the structure of the nation’s demand changing and more renewable technology being added to the grid, additional storage in the form of batteries will be needed along with power that can be dispatched on demand, De Ruyter told a conference in Cape Town on Friday. “Gas is the solution to that problem,” he said. Eskom has “a strong preference” for tapping local gas supplies, rather than exposing itself to the supply, price volatility and foreign currency fluctuation risks associated with imports, he said. Eskom, which has amassed R413-billion of debt and is running at a loss, is only interested in buying the gas, and doesn’t envision investing in pipelines or field development.