Eskom’s crisis is turning other companies into power generators‚ and some have rallied to help boost the utility’s dwindling generation capacity by contributing their own excess electricity to the national grid. Petrochemicals company Sasol became the latest to conclude a power purchase agreement when it reached a deal to supply up to 440MW of power to the grid.The agreement came into effect at the beginning of this month‚ Sasol spokesman Alex Anderson said on Monday.Sasol will supply the power from its Secunda and Sasolburg complexes‚ where it produces a total of 1‚100MW of electricity from gas imported from Mozambique. “We generate about 70% of our own electricity requirements‚” said Mr Anderson.Sasol needs about 1‚500MW to run its operations.Eskom will take up to 440MW of Sasol’s output as and when it needs the power. This is equivalent to half the 800MW Eskom will add onto the grid when the first unit of Medupi is fully operational next month.The electricity provider has had to resort to power rationing since October as its ageing generating fleet can no longer meet demand. Monday was the ninth consecutive day of power cuts as about 35% of its installed capacity had either broken down or was taken offline for regular maintenance.It is understood MTN Group aims to chip electricity it produces from its 2MW methane gas plant‚ and a 330kW concentrating solar plant at its head office. Another 1MW could be supplied from a solar plant in Doornfontein as well as a 5.4MW plant in Newlands‚ also in Johannesburg. A new 7MW plant is planned to add to current capacity and that is expected to have excess power of between 2MW and 3MW which could be offered to the grid.Although the company could neither confirm nor deny making an application to the National Electricity Regulator of SA‚ it said that since the start of its operations‚ MTN’s switches and hubs had been backed up by diesel generators to ensure continuous supply during power outages.“Due to the escalating cost of diesel‚ MTN explored the feasibility of alternative energy solutions‚” said Eben Albertyn‚ MTN SA’s chief technology officer. “MTN could put back any excess power into the grid‚” he said.Mr Albertyn was quick‚ however‚ to add that the group’s core business remained the provision of telecommunication services.MTN’s entry into the electricity industry comes five years after it installed the 2MW methane gas plant‚ built at a cost of R22m. Methane gas is a clean-burning‚ sustainable fuel that is reliable and offers a consistent supply. - RDM News Wire, BDLive..