Eskom, the South African electricity provider, will need a third less coal than expected to feed its power station by 2018 as the recession erodes electricity demand, the head of generation has said.
Eskom's Brian Dames said yesterday that the company expected to need 141mt (million tonnes) of coal a year by 2018, down from a previous estimate of 200mt
The company is bringing the first of two more efficient power plants on line in the next two years, but Dames said there was anxiety over where the coal would come from to feed its plants because of a lack of investment from coal miners in South Africa.
"We've certainly seen, given the economic crisis, a lower projection in coal demand and 141mt is our current view of future demand." Dames said.
"We don't have mines that have a resource long enough to match our current requirements and that is a big concern for South Africa," he said. There is no South African coal mine with enough resources to match long-term requirements for a country suffering from chronic power shortage.