Addressing South African parliament last week on the state of the system, Eskom chief Brian Molefe said the country would continue to rely on coal over the foreseeable future, and that the company would not phase out aging coal plants but renew them.

“We have contracted all the coal we need for the next five years. That is what we are looking at; we are looking at people that will supply us with coal,” Molefe said.

“This was critical in the energy supply for the country.”

“We had a total rethink on the matter; we think instead of decommissioning plants we will extend their lives as we do maintenance.

“That is our thinking on our fleet … Investment on the ageing fleet was the best route that the power utility will take.”

South Africa is also slowly looking to approve exploration for unconventional gas.

Eskom last week flagged its 100 megawatt Sere wind farm flagship renewable project as a demonstration of its commitment to sustainable development.

Warpath

However, it wasn’t enough, as Greenpeace was on the warpath.

“Greenpeace condemns the anti-renewable energy propaganda coming from Eskom in the strongest possible terms, at a time when renewable energy projects have added more than 1800MW of installed capacity to the grid in just two and a half years – which equates to 4% of the total installed capacity,” the group said.

“In fact, renewable energy is the only technology currently delivering new electricity capacity on time and on budget to South Africa’s constrained grid.

“If Mr Molefe would like to discuss the use of outdated technology then Eskom need look no further than Eskom’s ailing, and hugely polluting, coal-fired fleet which the utility is looking to refurbish rather than decommission.”

Greenpeace cited Bloomberg data which says half the assets in the global coal industry are now held by companies that are either in bankruptcy proceedings or don't earn enough money to pay their interest bills.

“As companies begin to divest from coal in the face of catastrophic climate change, the evidence that the global economy is moving away from their dependence on coal is clear,” Greenpeace said.

“This brings to the fore the question of what vested interests are causing Eskom and the South African government to still focus on coal and nuclear energy as a means to power South Africa.

“Eskom has disappointed South Africa with a recent history of unreliable supply, rapidly increasing costs and delays in construction of the two mega coal-fired power stations Medupi and Kusile.

“Coal has failed the people of this country, and instead of capitalising on cutting-edge renewable energy technology, Eskom has further disappointed the fledgling renewable energy industry in South Africa through their inability to plan ahead and timeously connect new renewable energy projects.

"Lastly, Eskom has disappointed business in South Africa as large-scale load shedding seriously damaged and constrained the economy.”

Eskom said last week it was on track to achieving its energy availability target, expecting no load shedding this winter.

The company announced last week it achieved daily energy availability factor average of 80%, which it said was a “clear indication” that it should meet its overall target well before the targeted 2020/21 financial year.

Coal-fired base load power stations make up the biggest portion of Eskom’s plant mix. The utility has 14 stations with an installed capacity of 38,548MW.

Africa’s first nuclear power station, Koeberg, was also a base load station with 1940MW capacity.

There are also two conventional hydroelectric power stations and two hydro pumped storage peaking facilities .

Eskom also has four quick-reaction gas turbine power stations with 2426MW of installed capacity, which are only used at peak periods and during extreme emergencies due to their high operating costs.

There are also two smaller, “older generation” open cycle gas turbine stations which use kerosene to power their engines.

However, Eskom has been forced to buy electricity from independent power producers, which Greenpeace said reflected the utility’s “lack of ambition and marginal approach” to investing in renewable energy project developments.

“If Eskom lacks the vision to build renewable energy projects themselves then other stakeholders most certainly will, as renewable energy is the power source of the future,” Eskom said, citing an EY study revealed that South Africa was the 11th most attractive country in the world for renewable energy investments.