South Africa Welcomes Power Purchase Agreement With Mozambique

The South African cabinet welcomed the Power Purchase Agreement with Mozambique, which will be supplying 100 megawatts of electricity within the next three months to the former country.

Furthermore, the agreement will also make sure that in the next three to 12 months, South Africa will receive 1,000 megawatts of electricity from Mozambique.

"Cabinet extends its appreciation to South Africans for their contribution in lowering the demand for electricity, which has contributed to Eskom being able to maintain lower stages of load shedding," the statement issued by the cabinet mentioned, SA News reported.

The cabinet also pointed out that saving electricity was a "shared responsibility," and that taking proper actions will benefit everyone in the country.

Besides Mozambique, the cabinet also appreciated China for providing South Africa with small-scale generation equipment worth R167 million, adding that the government was currently working on a deployment plan to ensure the donated "equipment is installed in public facilities which will, as a result, be isolated from load shedding."

"A formal handover ceremony will take place as soon as the goods are cleared by South African customs authorities," the cabinet added.

It was disclosed last week that South Africa's energy company Eskom is all set to receive 1,000 megawatts of gas-fired energy from Mozambique.

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa hosted Mozambique's Mineral Resources Minister, Carlos Zacarias in Pretoria on June 12 to discuss additional energy supply from the neighboring country.

The minister took to Twitter to share photos from their meeting and wrote, "The meeting sought to finalize those initial discussions to secure electricity for South Africa to ease the frequency and severity of load shedding." He added they also "discussed a long-term cooperation with Mozambique on energy matters."

Following Mozambique's meeting, Ramokgopa revealed that South Africa has sought China's help in resolving the ongoing energy crisis in the country by asking for solar panels, battery storage, wind turbines, and renewables technology.

Considering the energy crisis in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa predicted earlier this month that the residents might witness a "difficult winter ahead." Furthermore, the president suggested the citizens should make a difference by switching off lights and appliances that are not in use.

He also shared the Energy Action Plan's progress so far, saying there were 100 ongoing projects at various stages of development to ensure a new 10,000 megawatts generation capacity. Furthermore, the president shared that an investment of over R200 billion has been spent on these 100 projects.