With State-owned power producer Eskom “failing” South Africa, smaller private energy producers were stepping up to the plate and collectively delivering more power at a faster pace than Eskom or any other single entity could, EE Publishers MD Chris Yelland said on Wednesday.

In the wake of significant delays in the construction of two new coal-fired power stations, smaller companies simultaneously embarked on small-scale privately financed, built, owned and operated operations to deliver electricity to the national grid.

“In the same time it took Eskom to build a 100 MW wind farm, the private sector had built [multiple plants aggregately generating] 1 500 MW [of] wind and solar [energy] – that is the power of 50 different companies working simultaneously on 50 different projects,” Yelland told delegates at the four-day National Civil Society Conference, in Booysens, Johannesburg.

This indicated a shift in South Africa’s distribution model, as much of the new renewable energy, industrial cogeneration, coal and gas projects coming on stream were not Eskom led.

“We are diversifying away from a single monopoly … [and diversifying] the energy mix,” he added, stating that the public and private sectors would eventually work side-by-side in generating South Africa’s power.

While Eskom would remain, Yelland commented that the parastatal should remain focused on coal-fired power generation, maintaining its current baseload and existing fleet and address its backlogs.

New capacity – outside of Eskom’s Kusile and Medupi power plants, the two coal-fired power stations experiencing delays – would emerge from new players in the industry.