Eskom’s new-build programme for new power stations received a boost with a R7.2 billion loan agreement from the China Development Bank yesterday.
The agreement, aimed at supporting Eskom’s infrastructure construction programme, is expected to expedite the construction of some of Eskom’s power stations including Kusile and Medupi.
Eskom also entered into a memorandum of understanding with the State Grid Corporation of China to exchange expertise in “technical, managerial and financial fields”.
The agreement, signed during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Pretoria, would allow “commercial opportunities and exchange information on projects in geographic regions of mutual interest in the fields of transmission and distribution projects, renewable energy projects and off-grid rural electrification programmes”.
Last month Eskom also penned a R2.3-billion loan facility with the France Development Agency to electrify parts of KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo.
Standard Bank co-chief executive Sim Tshabalala also signed an agreement worth R10 billion over five years with the Industrial Commercial bank of China to raise “rand-dominated funding” for the bank to strengthen sectors in power and infrastructure.
China also entered a deal between its State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation and the South African Nuclear Corporation to enhance “bilateral” cooperation in the nuclear power.
“China and South Africa have enormous potential in the peaceful use of nuclear energy,’ said the statement by the presidency, announcing the deal.
China’s nuclear power corporation owns a nuclear power plant, the CAP1400, which is operated by the State Nuclear Power Demonstration Plant Company.
“Through this agreement, the Chinese corporation agrees to provide an opportunity for the South African corporation’s personnel to participate in the construction management of the CAP1400 Project Site,” said the presidency.
The deal will effectively see local nuclear experts receiving training in China on nuclear power generation and management.
The deal may also be part of South Africa’s broad plan to its mooted R1-trillion nuclear-power plans, although the South African corporation has rubbished reported costs of the country’s nuclear power programme.
Remarking on the various agreement Xi said the deals set a new milestone in relations between China and South Africa.