Eskom has signed a five-year agreement to import an additional 250MW of power from Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam, the company announced on Monday.
”We are trying to squeeze as much capacity out of every resource,” said Eskom spokesperson Andrew Etzinger.
The agreement was signed on Thursday April 3 and 100MW began coming through on Friday April 4, and will increase this week.
The additional power is less than a 1% increase on current capacity but, said Etzinger: ”Nevertheless, given the predicament we are in, it does definitely make a contribution”.
The extra capacity is made available through the Cahora Bassa plant operating all five of its generators.
The fifth generator is usually kept on standby for maintenance on one of the other generators.
This means that the extra capacity will only be available while all five generators are operating. Negotiations will be held to ensure a secure contribution of power availability over South Africa’s peak periods in winter, Etzinger said.
The Cahora Bassa contribution will be fed through to South Africa over Botswana and Zimbabwe’s infrastructure as there is no spare capacity for direct transmission between South Africa and Mozambique.
Mozambique’s power utility, Electricidade de Mozambique, will receive an additional 50MW from the agreement.
Eskom is on a national drive to cut power usage so that it can meet demand.
This includes asking for an overall 10% reduction in usage by its customers, rostered power cuts to prevent a total system collapse and an application to increase its tariffs by a further 53% to fund expanded capacity.
Meanwhile, Eskom’s status as the country’s sole buyer of electricity needs to be revoked to encourage independent power producers to enter the sector, the Democratic Alliance said in Cape Town on Monday.
The party also proposed that Eskom’s transmission of electricity be unbundled from its generating division and transformed into a separate state-owned company, said spokesperson on minerals and energy Hendrik Schmidt.
”A prohibitive regulatory environment continues to keep independent power producers at bay, and will continue to do so unless steps are taken to dismantle Eskom’s monopoly and ensure private-sector participation,” he said. — Sapa