Eskom Asks Sasol to Reduce Power

Due to the ongoing shortage of power in South Africa, the country’s state-utility company Eskom is calling on companies to reduce their power consumption; one of those companies is Sasol. Eskom has asked Sasol to do all it can to ease the power supply problem.

Sasol says it is complying with the request but already generates 30% of its own electricity requirements.

According to the head of the South African energy cluster at Sasol, Dr Benny Mokaba, "the company is doing all it can to assist and has already taken several steps to help alleviate the situation."

Sasol said that it will engage in short-term measures such as de-commissioning certain equipment which will reduce electricity demand from Eskom at its synthetic fuels facility in Secunda. While de-commissioning of equipment will have an impact on production, the company maintains that it will be able to keep the petrol and diesel output at current levels for the foreseeable future.

Dr Mokaba has explained that "in an effort to reduce electricity demand from Eskom significantly, the company plans to increase on-site power generation at the Secunda plant by 280MW by 2011. As part of this initiative, the Sasol Board has approved funds for the installation of gas turbines to power a planned electricity plant fuelled by gas at Secunda."