/ 6 October 2009

Eskom to reach reserve-margin target in five years

Eskom expects to reach its target of having a 15% reserve margin, or spare capacity, in five years, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Eskom has been battling to meet fast rising demand in Africa’s biggest economy and a low spare capacity brought industry to a standstill early last year.

The utility has since built up its coal stockpiles to power plants around the country, but it will take a few more years before new planned power stations come on stream.

”We want to be above 15%, currently we estimate to be about 10% … We believe we will [reach] the reserve margin in five years,” chief executive Jacob Maroga told journalists after briefing Parliament’s public enterprises committee. — Reuters