Ramokgopa says 2GW of powership capacity to be procured for five years
Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa confirmed with lawmakers this week that government intends pushing ahead with the procurement of electricity from powerships, amid ongoing environmental opposition to the floating gas-to-power plants and significant concerns over the cost implications and the term of the contracts.
“We are, as the Ministry, now going to commence with an emergency procurement programme based on powership solutions to give us an additional 2 000 MW and this amounts to two stages of loadshedding,” Ramokgopa said in a speech delivered as part of the debate on the Presidency’s Budget Vote.
In his written remarks he said that the power purchase agreement (PPA) would be for five years, but he did not confirm this in his oral presentation.
Earlier in the week, Operation Vulindela’s Rudi Dicks indicated that Ramokgopa was already in discussion with Karpowership – which emerged as a preferred bidder in 2021 to supply 1 200 MW under a 20-year PPA – about shortening the term to between five and ten years.
Karpowership has, to date, failed to secure the environmental authorisations required to dock its vessels in Richards Bay, Ngqura and Saldanha Bay and there are also concerns about the gas pricing methodology, which is likely to fluctuate in line with changes to the currency and gas prices.
Meanwhile, Ramokgopa also announced that 80 MW was immediately available from the Nacala Powership, in Mozambique, and that a PPA under an emergency procurement through Eskom would be activated.
He also reported that South Africa could procure a further 420 MW from the Temane gas-to-power facility, also in Mozambique, from November, and was considering a further 3 000 MW of gas-to-power imports from the country over the coming five years.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
SBS® Tanks is a leading provider of innovative water security solutions with offices in Southern Africa, East and West Africa, the USA and an...
VISIT SHOWROOM
M and J Mining are leading suppliers of physical support systems as used by the underground mining industry. Our selection of products are not...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
