SA’s coal industry faces a grim conundrum: Eskom’s looming coal shortfall presents an overwhelming business opportunity for the sector, but no-one is willing to fund it.
According to Eskom’s head of primary energy, Dan Mashigo, who spoke at the Coal Industry Day in Johannesburg on Wednesday, the utility has a projected shortfall of 1.3-billion tons of coal up until the end of the lives of its coal-fired power plants. From now until 2030, Eskom’s shortfall is 470-million tons.