SA’s mining companies urged the government to grant permission for them to set up independent power sources after years of delays and frustration to reduce dependence on Eskom.
“The latest crisis highlights the fact that the government must accelerate the licensing of renewable power projects planned by industrial and mining companies so that they can deal with job-destroying tariff hikes and supply interruptions,” said Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland.
“To engage with Nersa further we need ministerial approval as Nersa will not assess any generation licence application above 10MW without this approval. We are waiting for the ministerial approval,” Holland said. Sibanye has tried unsuccessfully to secure approval to use Eskom’s power lines on a “commercially viable basis” to feed its other operations from the large solar plant it planned near its Gauteng gold mines.
Another insurmountable issue was the regulatory requirement that Eskom had technical oversight and control over the solar plant. The terms of the contracts around this aspect “were found to be onerous and costly to the point it jeopardised the project”, he said.
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