World Bank financing South African coal-fired power station

20 April 2010

The World Bank has granted a loan of 2.8 billion Euros to South Africa, intended to finance the construction of a coal-fired power station, Medupi (North East) and the installation of solar panels and wind farms.

With a power of 4,800 MegaWatts, Medupi will increase the electricity capacity of South Africa by 12 percent. Construction will take place in six stages, from 2012 to 2015.

The public corporation Eskom, which currently produces 95 percent of the country’s electricity, will be managing the facility.

The solar panels and the wind farms, in turn, will generate 100 MegaWatts of energy.

At the present time the country can only increase its production by ten percent at peak times. 80 percent of South African homes are supplied with electricity, as opposed to 30 percent at the end of apartheid in 1994.

According to the World Bank, Medupi will reduce the region’s electricity deficit, which is putting a brake on development, and will create jobs.

South Africa currently only produces half of its electricity needs, 42,000 MegaWatts.

This is the first loan of this kind since the end of apartheid.

Category: Energy