Cape Town - Eskom's funding plan to 2017 has been
finalised and the electricity generation group will spend R201.6bn over the period with R65bn budgeted for this year, said
Public Enterprises Minister
Malusi Gigaba.
Presenting his budget vote speech in parliament on Wednesday,
Gigaba said that government had approved the increase of Eskom's
domestic borrowing programme from R65bn to R100bn to fund
the approved build programme.
During the 2011/12 financial year, Eskom was able to secure a
total of $615m funding for its Renewables Energy prorammes from
the African Development Bank, the Clean Technology Fund and the World
Bank.
In the current financial year, 260 MW is to be added to the
electricity transmission system with another 894 MW added in 2013, when
the first unit of the Medupi power station comes on line.
Gigaba said that 915 kilometers of the transmission network from that power station would be installed next year.
He warned that electricity supply constraints would continue until Medupi becomes operational.
"In the midst of the constraints we have been experiencing, I
am delighted to announce that Eskom will in June this year conduct a
pressure testing exercise on the first boiler at Medupi which will be a
key milestone of the process to ensure delivery of the unit by 2013,"
Gigaba said.
He also said that a strategy had been approved to keep the
lights on which consists of volountary energy conservation schemes
involving Eskom's big customers; short-term power buy-back programme to
secure more than 1 000 MW of power savings; and the energy savings pledge
signed by all state-owned companies in his portfolio.