CEO of independent power plant developer Ipsa, Peter Earl, said that the company wanted to build as much power capacity as possible to make up for South Africa’s power shortages.

He added that the inclusion of Exodus Africa – to which Ipsa had sold a 50% stake in Elitheni Clean Coal, the Ipsa subsidiary developing the project – would assist in accelerating Ipsa development drive in the Eastern Cape.

Strategic Natural Resources (SNR), the owners of the Elitheni coal mine, has confirmed that coal reserves there justify an on-site power plant. SNR had earlier this year granted Ipsa exclusive rights to develop the plant at Indwe. Should the coal reserves at the mine prove to be greater than the original estimate of 120-million tons, the size of the plant could be increased above 500M.