South African President Cyril Ramaphosa chaired a special cabinet to examine a plan by electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to slow the decommissioning of old coal power stations as the country battles with energy supply shortfalls, according to South Africa’s News24. The meeting was called after the African National Congress’ (ANC’s) national working committee (NWC) on Monday approved a plan that would slow the retirement of aging coal-fired power plants.
The plan would reportedly involve public-private partnerships. The meeting also focused on the ramping up of emergency power as power-utility Eskom implemented stage six loadshedding. The retirement dates for Eskom’s Hendrina and Arnot power stations in Mpumalanga were expected to be postponed. Several of Hendrina’s older units have already been closed and the power station was scheduled to be fully decommissioned by December 2025. Arnot is due for full decommissioning by 2029.
