POWER utility Eskom would be willing to buy electricity from coal-fired power stations being planned in Zimbabwe, as and when the utility had a shortfall, but it would not provide assistance to finance those projects, spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said on Tuesday.Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed mining company RioZim this week became the second owner of large coal deposits in Zimbabwe to announce plans to build a power station, to help alleviate the acute shortage of electricity in Southern Africa.RioZim was considering a $2.1bn investment in a 1,400MW plant using its deposit at Sengwa to supply its own needs and to sell to Eskom and Namibia Power Corporation, Reuters reports.Last year Makomo Resources, Zimbabwe’s biggest private-sector coal producer, said it was considering building a $1.5bn, 600MW coal-fired power plant near Harare, to be financed partly by Chinese investors.Both Zimbabwe and SA experience regular power cuts as their state-owned utilities have failed to invest timeously i...
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