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Govt to issue gas-to-power tender in 2015

Cape Town – The government will issue a tender for a gas-to-power project before the end of the year, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Deputy director general for energy planning at the department of energy, Ompi Aphane, told journalists in parliament that government was keen to take advantage of lower global gas prices and kick-start the development of gas infrastructure in South Africa.

READ: Floating power stations can tide SA over during electricity crisis

Under the proposal, one of 170 submissions sent to the government after it requested ideas for a gas-to-power programme, power generating ships or barges would dock at ports and supply electricity to the national grid.

"Power barges are a serious option, definitely yes," said Aphane.

"We would definitely want to see an interim solution in the very short term, in other words within months, because that is very critical to ameliorate the load shedding that we have."

Aphane said the government was looking at all solutions, including piping or importing liquefied natural gas with the aim of generating an extra 3 000 MW of power to the national installed generating capacity of 42 000 MW.

Aphane added that at the same time government was wary of attracting big players that would dominate the value chain.

South Africa is also fast-tracking renewable energy projects that will add about 1 000 MW of power to its ailing grid.

Eskom expects two of its long-delayed coal-fired power plants, Medupi and Kusile, to be fully operational by 2021, adding a combined 9 000 MW to the grid.

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