S.Africa's Eskom utility warns of more power cuts

(Reuters) - South Africa may suffer further power cuts in coming months due to rising demand during the peak winter season, utility Eskom said.

"Clearly the system demand is growing daily due to the cold weather, which puts tremendous pressure on the already tight electricity supply system," Eskom said.


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S.Africa's Eskom to auction bonds of 350 mln rand

(Reuters) - South Africa's electricity utility Eskom will issue up to 350 million rand worth of ES26 bonds on April 18, the company said on Tuesday.

Eskom, which is planning massive investment to boost tight power capacity in Africa's biggest economy, said the bond's bidding methodology would be on a spread basis to the government's R186 bond due 2026.


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Exxaro and S.African utility agree coal contract

(Reuters) - South African mining group Exxaro Resources Ltd has agreed to supply 7.3 million tonnes of coal over 40 years to state utility Eskom, the firm said on Thursday.

Exxaro said its Grootegeluk mine would supply coal to the first three units of Eskom's new Medupi power station, South Africa's first new electricity generating plant in a decade.


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S.Africa shuts down a unit at nuclear power plant

(Reuters) - South Africa's state power utility Eskom said it shut down one unit at its Koeberg nuclear plant on Thursday to check for potential damage, but it should still be able to meet the country's electricity needs.

"We took the decision at 4 p.m. this afternoon (1400 GMT) to shut down the unit," spokesman Fani Zulu said. "We can meet the demand with only one unit, however, the system becomes tight."


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S.Africa's Eskom lifts spending to $20 bln over 5 yrs

South African state utility Eskom has approved an increase in its 5-year spending on new projects to 150 billion rand from 97 billion rand, it said on Thursday.

The investment is meant to meet the electricity needs generated by South Africa's rapid economic growth, and will nearly double the megawatts (MW) of electricity that Eskom had previously intended, the company said in a statement.

Under the revised plan, which would cover the period from 1 April 2007 to 2011/12, Eskom will now deliver an additional 22,000 megawatts (MW) against the previous target of 12,500 MW.
Generation projects will take up about 72 percent of the 150 billion rand, and transmission projects about 12 percent.

The rest of the funds will be used for improvements to Eskom's distribution network, coal supply lines and other projects to diversify the firm's energy mix, Eskom said

Read more at Reuters South Africa

Power alert for SA

Eskom on Wednesday warned that it is experiencing a higher than expected demand for electricity which can largely be ascribed to the current heatwave.

In addition there has also been a number of unplanned outages of generating units, Eskom said in a statement.

Read more at FIN24.co.za

French nukes 'circling Eskom'

Leading French nuclear companies are circling power utility Eskom, hoping to get in on the construction of the next conventional nuclear plant in the Western Cape, Business Report said on Tuesday.

Industry speculation is that Areva, the company that built South Africa's first and only plant at Koeberg, is prepared to take a stake in the development of the fourth-generation pebble bed modular reactor programme in exchange for the contract to build the country's second conventional nuclear plant.

Read more at FIN24.co.za

"SA's No 1 company"

Electrical engineer appointed new Eskom CEO.

Eskom has announced the appointment of Jacob Maroga, an electrical engineer, as CEO to succeed Thulani Gcabashe as CEO of state-owned power utility Eskom. During a short speech upon the announcements at the Eskom convention centre in Midrand, near Johannesburg, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin described Eskom as the "most important company" in the country.

Read more at MoneyWeb.co.za