By Ntokozo Nkambule
The Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation (RES) says that being a large-scale electricity producer in the next few years is very much in its sights.
The corporation in its Integrated Report for 2022 notes that it is proactively formulating a comprehensive energy master plan to ultimately become energy self-sufficient. “We are assessing the feasibility of renewable energy generation, such as solar plants and new biomass boilers for high-pressure steam and maximum electricity production so that we can be self-sufficient by 2026.”
The corporation’s Managing Director, (MD) Nick Jackson in his message on the aforementioned report notes that their ambition is to become a net exporter of power to the national grid in the longer term.
RES Group Public Affairs Manager Sifiso Nyembe in a conversation with this publication reiterated their ambition to provide power to the national grid. He added that as a company they always punch above their weight, as a result they believe in the foreseeable future they could even provide electricity in some parts of the region.
Eswatini currently imports around 70 percent of its electricity from neigbhouring South Africa (Eskom). The country currently has an existing power purchase agreement which will be renewed in 2025, which the MD feels is risky for their business.
“Although the existing Eswatini power purchase agreement with South Africa will be renewed in 2025, Eswatini’s power supply will no longer be secured. This risk directly impacts the sustainability RES’s business. Against the backdrop of the power purchase agreement with South Africa coming up for renewal in 2025. RES is proactively formulating a comprehensive energy master plan to ultimately become energy self-sufficient” Jackson notes.
Nyembe further observed that as the biggest consumer of electricity in the country it is important that they become self-sufficient. “We await the negotiations between the country and South Africa regarding the power purchase agreement, but the reality is, as the biggest consumer of electricity in the country any amount of load shedding would be detrimental to the corporation, which is why we have to be proactive in this situation, most importantly consider the entire country as well.”
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