Eskom seeks $21 B for expansion
While some of the money may come from the Just Transition plan that wealthy nations have pledged to back with funding, private funding is also being considered.
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South Africa, Sandton: Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned utility, is in talks with the government on ways to attract public and private financing of $21 billion for a grid expansion to accommodate a rise in renewable energy, Bloomberg reports. The company needs $21 billion (390 billion South African rand) to fund the building of almost 9000 miles of power lines over 10 years. Coal is currently the major energy source for the country (80% of the energy mix). The energy crisis that has hit the country means that daily rolling power cuts are crippling the economy as Eskom has failed to boost generation capacity to keep pace with growing demand.
Eskom told Bloomberg it is in “ongoing discussions with key government ministries on the funding of the South Africa’s transmission capital-expenditure requirements”. While some of the money may come from the Just Transition plan that wealthy nations have pledged to back with funding, private funding is also being considered.
The US, the UK, France, Germany, and the EU are mobilizing an initial $8.5 billion to catalyse the first phase of the Just Energy Transition (JET) Investment Plan as part of a long-term Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) signed in 2021. Under the plan, South Africa will invest in job retraining and reskilling, payments to support displaced workers, and redevelopment of former coal mines and coal power plants as clean energy production sites.
Source: Oil Price