Govt not closing down coal-fired power stations - Ramaphosa
ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa says government is not closing down coal-fired power stations in exchange for renewable energy.
Ramaphosa was speaking at the ANC national executive committee lekgotla in Johannesburg on Sunday.
He said the Medupi and Kusile power stations will remain in operation to assist with the other power stations that are nearing their end of life.
"We have now embarked a process of repurposing some of these coal-fired power stations to extend their life-cycles. This is necessary not only to reduce carbon emissions, but to address the deteriorating performance of older coal plants which are nearing their end of life.
"Most of our coal-fired power stations, including Medupi and Kusile, will remain in operation and will continue to provide the ‘base load’ supply."
He added that progress is being made to address the load shedding crisis.
"There are several areas of progress that we must acknowledge. We have signed agreements with independent power producers for 26 renewable energy projects, which together will generate around 2,800 MW. An additional 300 MW has been imported through the Southern African Power Pool, and negotiations are underway to secure a potential 1,000 MW from neighbouring countries.
"Eskom has also launched a programme to purchase up to 1,000 MW of power from companies with existing generation capacity. We have cut red tape and streamlined regulatory processes, reducing the timeframe for environmental authorisations, registration of new projects and grid connection approvals. A team of independent experts has been established to work closely with Eskom to diagnose the problems and take action to improve plant performance, particularly at the six power stations with the most breakdowns.
"These interventions will take some time to have an effect and we must be honest with the people that load shedding in one form or another – will be with us for some time. Our objective is to lower the stages of load shedding to the lower levels whilst we address the overall challenge of ensuring security of energy supply."
READ FULL STATEMENT BELOW:
Political Overview by Anc President Cyril Ramaphosa to the Anc Nec Lekgotla 29 January 2023 Esselen Park by Mmangaliso Khumalo on Scribd
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