Author: Paul Burkhardt

South Africa’s plan to build gas-fired power plants has become outdated with renewables becoming cheaper, Meridian Economics has found.

South Africa’s record electricity cuts last year could rise 10-fold by 2026 unless the country rapidly adds generation capacity, Meridian Economics said.

African Rainbow Energy and Power is looking to boost renewable power generation to become one of the biggest clean energy providers in South Africa and Africa.

Talks between Eskom and its biggest labour unions on wages have reached a stalemate, the latest crisis for the electricity utility.

Government has signed power purchase agreements for 150MW of capacity from private projects by developer Scatec that were selected a year ago.

Eskom, already struggling to avoid breakdown at its plants and nationwide blackouts, has another crisis on its hands: sabotage.

Eskom has filed charges with police over an incident of sabotage at the Tutuka power station, another obstacle as the utility struggles to meet electricity demand.

South Africa is headed for a record year of power cuts if the rate of station breakdowns fails to improve, particularly at coal-fuelled plants.

Eskom is scrutinising contracts to buy power from a government programme for private developers to quickly bring on board additional generation.

South Africa’s plan to add an estimated R95-billion worth of private emergency power generation has been further delayed.