JOHANNESBURG - Eskom has signed lease agreements with four international independent power producers to use the land around the Majuba and Tutuka power stations for renewable energy projects.
Chairman and secretary general at the South African Independent Power Producers Association - Thomas Garner - said local power producers were not sidelined from the projects - as there was an open bidding process. Garner said local producers refrained from this development project for strategic and financial reasons.
"Usually when you develop a project, you need to start from scratch in terms of EIAs [Environmental Impact Assessments], water use licenses and all these licenses and that takes between now - I would say, 18 months and 3 years, depending on whether you developed solar or wind. And some of the local IPPs have got enough land to develop it, we don't have to start from scratch."
Can't wait for this to alleviate the burden on eskom and help get rid of loadshedding. Probably by the year 2044.