It is reported that Australia and Botswana listed energy coal company Aviva would be submitting a proposal to Eskom on September 10th 2008 for the supply of 1,000 MW of additional power into Eskom.

Mr Lindsay Reed CEO of Aviva said that this submission is in response to Eskom’s invitation for bids for the supply of 4,500 MW of independent power projects. He said that he expected a partner to join the company in the power proposal, which would involve the construction of a coal fired power station at Aviva’s 1.3 billion Mmamantswe coal resource north of Gaborone in Botswana, close to the South African border.

Aviva would also be availing itself of a coal mining opportunity to supply from 6 million tonnes a year to 12 million tonnes a year to Eskom in response to the South African power utility’s need for 780 million tonnes of coal from over the next 40 to 60 years. The proposed power station would require about 4 million tonnes to 12 million tonnes of opencast coal and the strip ratio would be one to one.

Aviva also had plans to build the 400 MW Coolimba coal fired power station in an energy constrained Western Australian market from a 73 million tonnes opencast reserve located 270 kilometers north of Perth.

Mr Reed said that power demand in Western Australia was growing at 130 MW a year, with new mining projects in the Midwest region alone possibly demanding 500 MW by 2012.