Eskom not in a position to speedily finance grid expansion, says Ramokgopa
Speaking at a briefing on Sunday morning, the Electricity Minister said the expansion and the strengthening of the grid is going to take an inordinate amount of money that the power utility doesn't yet have.
JOHANNESBURG - Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said that Eskom cannot finance the country's electricity generation on the scale and the speed at which it needs to be done.
Ramokgopa was speaking at a media briefing on Sunday morning, where he updated the country on the implementation of the energy action plan.
He said a transmission team has been formed to tackle a range of issues that are becoming increasingly worrying.
This includes four key areas that need to receive the same amount of attention as the task of electricity generation.
"The overall framework of how we are going to be executing our work on transmission is expansion of the grid, the issues of regulatory approvals, the third one is the regional interconnectors and the fourth one is the financing of the effort that we will be making going forward."
He said Eskom has a clear lack of financing when it comes to maintenance and generation.
"I did mention that the last time the expansion and the strengthening of the grid is going to take an inordinate amount of money and of course, the Eskom balance sheet is not in a position to finance that kind of expansion that is required."
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