State calls for urgent interventions to to mitigate Eskom’s deepening supply crisis

Speaking on Friday during the release of the latest Integrated Resource Plan , Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe said that coal producers needed to lower their prices while the country was still dependent on coal.

“As a department, we have been categorically clear from the outset that our task is not to be a lobby group for a particular energy technology, but rather, to execute our mandate of ensuring the security of energy supply using all available resources,” he said. He said Eskom had been given the go-ahead to incorporate renewable energy, so now there was nothing stopping the state-owned power utility from competing and acquiring generation assets in that sector.Mantashe emphasised the current price charged by independent power producers was unsustainable, and government could not commit to not capping it.

“When we extend the life of Koeberg, we are not acquiring new capacity but merely extending the current capacity by 20 years,” he said.Immediately starting a nuclear build programme to add 2 500 megawatts of power “because it is a no-regret option in the long term”. “The IRP recognises that because of challenges with Eskom’s plant performance, there is an immediate supply-and-demand gap that needs to be addressed. The current load shedding attests to this,” he said.

The IRP, which is supposed to secure the country’s generation capacity for demand in both a low- and medium-growth economic environment, also aims to restore an improved reserve margin.

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