Eskom doesn’t want SA to be overly reliant on energy imports
‘If you are going to depend on another country for your security of energy supply, you are asking for trouble’
Eskom does not believe that SA should rely too heavily on external sources for its electricity supply, the utility’s spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said on Thursday. He could not comment specifically on Eskom’s formal submission to the energy department on the draft integrated resource plan 2018 (IRP) — reported on by Fin24 — as this is now in the hands of the department. However, he emphasised that Eskom would not support a heavy dependence on imports of gas from Mozambique, for example, or on hydro-electric power from the Grand Inga project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the country’s electricity supply. The IRP sets out the path for future electricity generation based on projected demand and the percentages of total supply that should be derived from different energy sources. Phasiwe said SA has to be very cautious about depending too much on imports from neighbouring countries “because you never know what can happen. If you are going to depend on another country for y...
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