The alarm call for the coal giant is the realisation that without more generating capacity than its power utility Eskom can itself build in time, South Africa will in four to five years face a severe shortage of power. Despite the capacity that is being built, by 2012 demand will exceed supply and threaten the progress of southern Africa's industrial giant. For Botswana, it's almost a Catch 22 situation - the country imports 410 MW of the 542 MW it uses from its southern neighbour. The agreement runs out at the end of this year and renewal will be for five years only and limited to a maximum of 310 MW. There is load shedding now and even after the 2 x 600 MW expansion of Botswana's sole power plant, Morupule, planned to come on stream by 2011, demand curves indicate the country will soon afterwards need even more power.
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