Durban - Independent Power Southern Africa (Ipsa) can rescue the government's private power plant programme and, at the same time, provide a lower-cost plant.
Peter Earl, Ipsa's chief executive, said this week that the firm could take over the smaller peaking plant at the Coega industrial development zone.
"I cannot give you any specifics as to our current discussions, but we are in contact with the government,'' said Earl.
''We believe that the totally predictable actions of AES present the department of minerals and energy, as well as Eskom, with a super chance to have a better, lower-cost solution in the form of our Ipsa project."
The government's independent power producer (IPP) programme aims to have two peaking power plants built north of Durban and at Coega, north of Port Elizabeth, with a combined capacity of 1 000 megawatts.
The department is looking for an alternative developer after talks with AES collapsed two weeks ago.
Ipsa appears to be well placed to assist, as it is already working on another plant at Coega, for which it has bought the turbines.
"Our existing Coega project makes that one redundant, as we can get 540MW up and running next year anyway," said Earl. "We already own the turbines and can offer a lower overall price than we believe AES walked away from."
Under Ipsa's phased plan, Coega's two plants will initially run on liquid fuels, but will convert to lower-cost liquid natural gas within a couple of years.
According to the original specifications for the department's tender for the peaking plants, the capacity that AES would have installed, had it not walked away, would have resulted in an expensive peaking plant. "We always had a problem with that approach," said Earl.
Ipsa recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Central Energy Fund subsidiaries PetroSA and iGas, as well as the department, to co-ordinate the development of its Coega power project.
It is expected that a liquefied natural gasification plant will be commissioned at Coega after 2011. But it is not clear if Ipsa will be able to take over the Durban plant. The department may also be speaking to Suez Energy, which has declined to comment.
The failure of talks with AES means the peaking plants may now be operating only by the end of 2010, and not at the end of next year, as expected.
Bheki Khumalo, the department's spokesperson, said this week that the department was trying to secure space at manufacturers for the turbines, to complete the plants by next year.
Eskom could also bale out the project. Andrew Etzinger, the spokesperson for the state utility, said it was working on the assumption that the government's IPP programme would succeed, but the state-owned company could step in.