Currently, the company is constructing the Medupi coal-fired power plant. It also intends to construct another plant, Kusile, to include around 8,000MW to its existing 41,500MW capacity.
Kannan Lakmeeharan, managing director of the Eskom’s system-operations and planning division, said that the company needs to take decisions in the next year to ensure that all the water and other infrastructure projects are built on time. It was up to the government to make these decisions, he added.
The government of South Africa has postponed the company’s expansion plans for around four years till 2004, which has resulted in power shortage.
Mr. Lakmeeharan, said: “there’s a possibility of a coal-based station or a series of smaller stations either built by Eskom or independent power producers. Eskom’s coal requirements will be between 180 to 200 million tons per annum in 2018.”
Mr. Lakmeeharan further said that the company has requested a few industrial customers to carry out planned maintenance, in order to avoid power shortages during 2010, when South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup.
