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Johannesburg - Kuyasa Mining, a coal producer, plans to offer to build a 600MW power plant at a cost of about $1.7bn in the government’s next procurement round for electricity generation from private companies.
Banks along with development-finance institutions will fund the bid by KiPower, the company’s power unit, Ayanda Bam, a director and founder of Kuyasa, said in an e-mailed reply to questions.
“They will fund our bid with us being the lead developer,” he said.
South Africa will contract 2 500MW of coal-fired projects from Independent Power Producers, or IPPs, the Department of Energy said in an April 16 statement.
READ: Energy Dept looks to private sector to solve electricity crisis - as it happened
Indecision over whether to build new power plants more than a decade ago has left the SA economy with insufficient power for its needs, forcing it to implement rolling blackouts.
Kuyasa plans to locate the plant at its mine near Delmas, 60km north-east of Johannesburg. Bam said KiPower could have a date in June for when construction of the plant will begin.
The Delmas mine produces 2 million metric tons of coal a year.
Bam didn’t specify the banks that will back the project. He said the company approached state institutions, including the Public Investment Corp, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Industrial Development Corporation.
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