Sasol to reduce electricity use

Sasol will reduce its energy consumption, following a request by Eskom

Petrochemical giant Sasol is to reduce its electricity consumption by a "meaningful" amount following a request from Eskom.

"While this will impact on production volumes, we will maintain our petrol and diesel output for the foreseeable future by making use of intermediate stocks," said the company in a statement.

Short term measures to reduce electricity consumption would include de-commissioning certain equipment at Sasol's synthetic fuels facility in Secunda.

This followed government’s announcement that the nationwide outages would be treated as a national emergency.

Supplies to Sasol's customers would, however, be maintained and the company would review the situation daily with Eskom.

Head of the South African energy cluster at Sasol, Benny Mokaba, said: "In an effort to reduce electricity demand from Eskom significantly, the company plans to increase on-site power generation at the Secunda plant by 280MW by 2011.

"As part of this initiative, the Sasol board has approved funds for the installation of gas turbines to power a planned electricity plant fuelled by gas at Secunda."

Sasol currently generated more than 30% of its total electricity needs. - Sapa