aims to improve the energy availability factor from lows of 49% through maintenance and servicing, but it is unclear how exactly it plans to do that. The ageing coal fleet requires long periods of intense maintenance and overhaul where entire plants will need to be offline for months at a time.
The last point in the government’s four-point plan is the revitalisation of the emergency procurement of energy. At the ANC Energy Dialogue, Mantashe put the controversial Karpowership project back on the table. Mantashe suggested that the contracts could be reduced to 10 years to make the deal more palatable to those who have objected to it, though at a higher cost per kWh.
Estimates priced the project at R218bn when it was first announced in 2021. Based only on the weakened rand-dollar exchange rate, this cost would balloon to R257bn even before taking into account the higher price per kWh due to the shorter contract, higher oil and gas prices and other economic factors. This figure is on par with the original project cost of the Medupi power station in Limpopo, once intended to generate nearly 5,000MW for 50 or so years.
If his karpowership deal goes ahead with the requires back handers and corruption it might drop a level.