Eskom moves ahead on nuclear project siting (South Africa)

South Africa's national power utility Eskom has agreed to cooperate with state-owned Coega Development Corporation (CDC) in the development of South Africa’s nuclear new build programme (NNBP). Eskom and CDC will implement services for infrastructure development, skills development and localisation and will conduct studies on the impact of the country's nuclear program on socio-economic development. Coega Development Corporation is the company mandated to develop and operate the Coega Industrial Development Zone on the east coast of South Africa.



South Africa aims to build about 9.6 GW of new nuclear capacity (potential Thyspunt nuclear power plant) by 2030, at an estimated cost of US$34bn-US$84bn. The new capacity will ease the country's reliance on its ageing fleet of coal-fired power plants. In December 2016, Eskom released its request for information (RFI) for the new build programme (in February 2017, 27 companies had expressed interest). The interested companies will have to provide their information until 28 April 2017. The date for the official tender remains to be determined.



Meanwhile, The first unit of the Kusile coal-fired project developed by South Africa State-owned energy utility Eskom near Witbank, Mpumalanga, in South Africa, has reached full load. The unit was connected to the grid in December 2016 and is one step closer to the ultimate goal of commercial operation in the second quarter of 2017.



The connection of Unit 1 of Kusile, with a capacity of 800 MW, is part of the effort by Eskom to ensure security of power supply in South Africa after periods of mandatory load-shedding caused by a lack of generating capacity in the country. The five additional units of the Kusile power plant are expected to be all commissioned by the end of 2022, when the plant's capacity will reach 4,800 MW.