4 May 2009
South Africa won’t be going it alone when it comes to powering Fifa’s footballing showpiece in 2010. Countries from the southern African region have agreed to a range of measures to help South Africa ensure an uninterrupted World Cup electricity supply.
According to the initiative, announced at a meeting of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) in Maputo, Mozambique last week, the SAPP’s 12 member countries will conduct a number of power-saving exercises, passing the surplus power created on to South African state company Eskom for use during the 2009 and 2010 football events.
Regional manufacturers will be encouraged to reduce pressure on the interconnected SAPP power grid by slowing production during evening peak periods and increasing production during off-peak periods, Eskom said in a statement last week.
Some may even take their plants off the grid for planned maintenance when Confederations Cup and World Cup matches are being played.
Other initiatives will include ensuring adequate transmission capacity for transfering electricity to South Africa, taking preventative pre-event maintenance, bringing co-generation plants into the SAPP grid, and making more use of renewable energy sources.
The member countries’ commitment will be backed by commercial agreements, to be negotiated separately between SAPP members and Eskom, that will include targets for the supply of power generated from renewable sources.
Eskom’s Project 2010 MD ,Johnny Dladla, said the initiative confirmed that the 2010 Fifa World Cup was “truly an African event”.
SAPP members include Eskom, the Botswana Power Corporation, Electricity Supply Commission of Malawi, Empresa National de Electricidade (Angola), Lesotho Electricity Corporation, NamPower (Namibia), Societe National d’ Electricite (Democratic Republic of Congo), Swaziland Electricity Board, Tanzania Electric Supply Company, and Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority.
Mozambique’s members are Electricidade de Mozambique, Hydro Cahora Bassa and the Mozambique Transmission Company, while Zambia’s members are the Copperbelt Energy Corporation and Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation.
SAinfo reporter
Would you like to use this article in your publication or on your website? See: Using SAinfo material
