Cape Town - Deputy President David Mabuza has revealed that Eskom will repurpose about seven old power stations as they face the end of their lifespan.
The country has been battling loadshedding due to issues of ageing infrastructure and state capture at Eskom.
Mabuza, who was answering questions in the National Assembly on Thursday, said they have opened up the market to allow other players in the energy sector.
This was to mitigate against loadshedding.
He said they have identified some of the old power plants that will be repurposed by Eskom.
“As much as we have opened the market Eskom should proceed. Now they are going to repurpose probably six or seven power stations, your Camden, your Grootvlei, that have reached their lifespan. This process is proceeding,” said Mabuza.
He said it was also important for them to open the market.
He said another station that will be repurposed by Eskom is Komati and it will be repurposed into renewable with the capacity of 244MW and battery storage.
“As much as we are affected by loadshedding because of our old plants we are discontinuing these plants, we are repurposing them step by step until we stabilise our energy security,” said Mabuza.
It was important to open the market to allow other players to meet the increasing demand of electricity.
Mabuza also told Parliament that they were trying to improve Eskom’s financial position.
He said Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has stuck to his guns that they would not be giving bailouts to state-owned entities.
POLITICAL BUREAU