The Eskom director said his board inherited a picture from a previous board and the previous chief executive that was focused on addressing clean energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Le Roux said this resulted in Eskom\u2019s coal power plant staff feeling neglected, left out, and that they had no future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe decommissioning plan produced by that board and chief executive was a fast shutdown of all the coal plant units in something called the 2035 production plan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe consequence of that plan was that Eskom would be shutting down coal-fired power plants for the sake of clean energy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was at a time when the penetration of clean energy was going slower than the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) had forecast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that during this period, South Africa experienced far more load-shedding than it would have liked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new Eskom board removed the 2035 production plan and replaced it with a new six-year plan adopted in 2024, which will still run for the next five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is because Eskom’s environmental impact has not yet been clarified regarding the decision to keep some of the old power stations online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the 2030 plan, Eskom will only take coal power stations offline if the performance of the remaining fleet – independent power producers and Eskom – meets the country\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInstead of taking coal-fired power stations offline to meet CO2 commitments, we will keep them on to meet an economic growth perspective,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe current view of this board and Eskom executives is to run the coal power plants as needed to stop load-shedding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Le Roux said this is a significant shift in what was previously happening in Eskom. It is one of the contributors to improving the morale of the staff located at those power stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey have now become useful to the economy instead of being useless in the previous picture of shutting down coal plants as fast as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andre de Ruyter\u2019s green energy initiatives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Andre-de-Ruyter-Eskom-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDuring his tenure as Eskom\u2019s CEO, Andre de Ruyter began the development of a comprehensive corporate strategy aimed at accelerating the decarbonisation of the utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom was the largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the African continent, a fact that De Ruyter sought to address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This strategy involved a Just Energy Transition (JET) plan, which included creating a dedicated office to facilitate the repurposing and repowering of decommissioned power stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>During his tenure as Eskom\u2019s CEO, Andre de Ruyter began the development of a comprehensive corporate strategy aimed at accelerating the decarbonisation of the utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eskom was the largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the African continent, a fact that De Ruyter sought to address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This strategy involved a Just Energy Transition (JET) plan, which included creating a dedicated office to facilitate the repurposing and repowering of decommissioned power stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n