Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

4min read
22 September 2022 | 12:00pm CAT

The government is moving to secure more independent power producers (IPP) after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, saying it is still deliberating on progress reports on Eskom’s capacity and load shedding.

This will add additional supply to the grid within the next 18 months and offer offshore wind energy technology.

The programme was launched by the Mineral Resources and Energy Department in April last year in a bid to get independent power producers. The initiative proposes multiple bid windows for potential power suppliers to better the country’s energy crisis.

The procurement agreement was confirmed last year October, and on Thursday, Minister Gwede Mantashe signed the agreement.

The top three projects that have been chosen are the Coleskop wind power, San Kraal wind power and Phezukomoya wind power suppliers.

This comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa chaired a meeting where he received a briefing from Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan on the capacity of Eskom.

The Cabinet meeting comes as South Africa has been facing load shedding for more than a week of stage six and five power cuts.

In a statement, Cabinet says it discussed the issue of power cuts over the past week that has “disrupted the economic activities of businesses and inconvenienced households in the country”.

It added that it remained committed to “resolving the issue of energy security in the country and welcomes the concerted efforts being made by government and other stakeholders to find a permanent solution to end load-shedding”.