Eskom to swap coal for renewables, nuclear

Paul Burkhardt
  • 1 Month Ago
Eskom plans to compete with private power developers by gradually replacing coal with cleaner technologies as overall capacity grows over the next decade.

The utility, which hasn’t had to resort to load-shedding for more than three months, is looking to expand capacity.

Eskom will add generation from a pipeline of solar, wind, hydro, battery, gas and nuclear sources, Dan Mashigo, its GM for primary energy, said at a conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The overall capacity of the system will increase to 54 GW by 2035 from 48 GW next year.

Coal, which makes up about 83% of supply, will drop to 48% in 2035, according to the presentation. Still, with 11% coming from gas and diesel, most of its electricity will be generated by fossil fuels for another decade.

-BLOOMBERG