SOEs: Outages suspended; Karpowership permit

#LoadsheddingUpdate

Sunday, 17 December 2023: Due to consistent improvement in available generating capacity, loadshedding will remain suspended until 16:00 on Friday. Eskom will closely monitor the power system and communicate should any significant changes occur. The evening…

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) December 17, 2023

Eskom asked the National Treasury for permission to sign an electricity purchase agreement with Karpowership, bringing the Turkish company a step closer to fulfilling a contract it won to supply the national grid more than two years ago.

The national power utility said it submitted a Section 54 application to the Treasury, which it has to do to comply with the Public Finance Management Act.

Read More: Eskom Seeks Approval to Buy Electricity From Karpowership

South Africa issued a request for private companies to build 7,615 megawatts of solar, wind, gas and battery storage power projects.

The country is seeking 1,800 megawatts of solar power and 3,200 megawatts of wind energy from private companies, the Independent Power Producer Office said in a statement on its website on Thursday. That’s under the so-called Bid Window 7, for which bids are due by 30 April.

Coal companies are providing state rail and port company Transnet SOC money to buy spares for locomotives, Business Day reported. 

Transnet has about 200 idle locomotives because Chinese Railway Rolling Stock Corp won’t provide parts, the newspaper reported. 

Shareholders in the Richards Bay Coal Terminal — which include Glencore Plc — are coming together to help Transnet Freight Rail buy some spares, the newspaper said, citing Thungela Resources chief financial officer Deon Smith. 

Shipments of the dirtiest fossil fuel by the logistics firm from mines mainly in Mpumalanga province to RBCT are on pace to reach 47.4 million tons this year. That would miss Transnet’s own target and be the lowest level in at least three decades.