As reported, South Africa, which relies on coal for about 90% of its power, is battling with power shortages because demand outstrips supply.
Ms Hogan has been quoted by Reuters as saying: “It is expected that the long-term contracts for the current fleet of coal fired power stations, including Kusile and Medupi, will be finalised by the end of 2010.”
As part of a ZAR385 billion expansion programme, state power utility Eskom has commissioned two new 4,800MW plants. Medupi power station is a dry-cooled coal-fired plant near Lephalale in Limpopo province of South Africa and Kusile power station is situated close to the existing Kendal Power Station in the Witbank area of the Mpumalanga Province. To supply coal to the power plants, Eskom is planning to invest up to ZAR110 billion in coal mining by 2020.
