Electricity Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has taken receipt of South Africa’s second electricity consignment from the People's Republic of China.
The second consignment, which is part of the Technical Assistance Programme donation of energy equipment by China, arrived in South Africa on Tuesday following the first batch that arrived in the country last November months after a visit by Chinese leader, Xi Jinping in August 2023.
During this visit Xi Jinping committed to helping South Africa resolve its load shedding crisis, which at the time had reached catastrophic levels.
It was reported that the energy generation equipment would be worth R500 million while the first consignment was said to be worth R167 million.
In November, the country subsequently took receipt of the equipment which included solar PVs, batteries, inverters and generators, to be used to power public facilities such as hospitals, clinics and correctional services.
The first consignment consisted of 450 gasoline generators, which were to be distributed to public service facilities across the country.
This time around, the minister said the equipment will include diesel generators and photovoltaic energy storage power supply systems.
He added that the donated equipment will enhance South Africa achieve energy efficiency while also ensuring a reliable power supply in some clinics and public facilities, for uninterrupted service delivery to communities.
“The donated equipment will enhance energy efficiency and ensure a reliable power supply in some clinics and public facilities, for uninterrupted service delivery to communities, while the generators will serve as a backup supply to public facilities such as hospitals and clinics in instances of load reduction in affected communities,“ the minister said during the handover ceremony.
Minister Bingkai Zheng, representing the People’s Republic of China in South Africa, indicated that the donation is part of his country’s goodwill regarding the historic and future bonds between the two countries.
“The donation shows our commitment and shows a new stage of our relationship with South Africa. This is a new level, a higher level. President Ramaphosa led a delegation including the minister to be in China for the forum and state visit. So, we are here and we are expecting to add more productive and closer relationship between us,” he said.
Last year, Ramaphosa and Ramokgopa led an Official State Visit to South Africa, led by Chinese President Xi Jinping
During this visit, Ramaphosa thanked the Asian nation for its support saying:“South Africa deeply appreciates China’s support in addressing our current energy challenges. This includes the donation of emergency power equipment worth R167 million and availing a grant of approximately R500 million as development assistance.
“Energy cooperation with China is a recent development that we look to deepen, particularly in line with our respective commitments to low-carbon, climate-resilient development,” the President said.
This time around however, the donation comes just as South Africa was celebrating more than 160 days of no load shedding.
Early in the week, Eskom provided its summer outlook, which looks good, indicating that South Africa may not see any load shedding heading into the warmer season.
The power utility has indicated that the country has had around five months without load shedding in spite of a severe winter season where the country generally uses more energy.
Eskom has attributed this change of fortune to its Generation Operational Recovery Plan, which began in March 2023 and continued to enhance efficiencies for the company and delivered a structural shift in fleet performance.
The utility’s Group CEO, Dan Marokane, said that Eskom has been able to save over R10 billion that would have been spent on diesel.
“This outcome has led to predictions suggesting ongoing performance can contribute to potential growth in the economy of around 2%,” Marokane explained.
“The winter performance demonstrates what this company is capable of as we undertake our further strategic initiatives and re-affirms Eskom as worthy of further future investment to serve South Africa and drive economic growth.
“I would like to express gratitude to the Eskom employees for their hard work and dedication in moving Eskom towards operational sustainability,” he said.
Saturday Star
siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za
.