By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Komati Power Station’s transition from a coal fired station to a repurposed, multifaceted hub is well underway, with Eskom issuing a tender notice for a service provider to drive the socio-economic development plan for the transition from fossil to renewable energy.
Komati was officially taken off the grid in October last year after serving the population since 1961. No Eskom employees lost their jobs as a result of the closure.
“Part of the plan includes management and implementation of mitigation measures for the socio-economic impacts resulting from the shutdown of the fossil-fired generating units at Eskom’s Komati Power Station. The last of the fossil-fired units at Komati reached its end of operational life in October 2022 and was shut down.
“The project is for a duration of approximately 60 months. Interested service providers are urged to review the request for expression of interest (EOI) document on the Eskom Tender Bulletin and respond accordingly,” Eskom said.
The Komati site is expected to be powered by:
- 150MW of solar power.
- 70MW of wind power.
- 150MW of battery storage power.
“The repowering and repurposing of the power station will be funded through a concessional loan facility from the World Bank. The loan facility broadly covers the decommissioning, repurposing and repowering of the station and critical elements of the Just Energy Transition to provide a second life to the power station.
“This includes the establishment of an agrivoltaics test facility, a containerised microgrid assembly and manufacturing facility, a training centre for employees and community members, and importantly, a community upliftment programme that this tender seeks to address, “Eskom said.
Meanwhile former Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer is now in charge of fixing the exhaust stacks at Kusile Power Station, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts heard on Wednesday.
Oberholzer is also involved in the project to extend the life of Koeberg Power Station near Cape Town.
Eskom’s acting GCE Calib Cassim revealed the former COO’s new role at the utility during a meeting with members of Scopa at Megawatt Park.
Oberholzer is on a fixed-term contract at the power utility.
Cassim told MPs that a new position had been created for the former COO.
“His main focus is on Kusile stack recoveries, temporary stacks, as well as the permanent stacks. And then on the Koeberg steam generators, together with ensuring we get the life extension on Koeberg.”
National Council of Provinces (NCOP) has voted in favour of the passing of the bill on Eskom Debt Relief Bill.
It will see the National Revenue Fund provide debt relief for Eskom to the value of R254 billion over the next three financial years.
The bill was initially proposed by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and will see National Treasury taking over more than half of Eskom’s R400 billion debt.