TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      This crypto winter will be long, cold and harsh

      19 May 2022

      Haven’t had Covid yet? It could be more than just luck

      19 May 2022

      Reserve Bank eyes digital rand as it readies crypto regulations

      19 May 2022

      E.tv parent eMedia leaps higher on surge in profits

      18 May 2022

      Growth evaporates at Tencent, and worse may be to come

      18 May 2022
    • World

      TikTok plans big push into gaming

      19 May 2022

      Musk says he will vote Republican, calls ESG a ‘scam’

      19 May 2022

      Crypto crash leaves El Salvador in a pickle

      19 May 2022

      Tencent leads big China tech selloff

      19 May 2022

      Russia seizes Google’s bank account, forcing bankruptcy

      18 May 2022
    • In-depth

      Elon Musk is becoming like Henry Ford – and that’s not a good thing

      17 May 2022

      Stablecoins wend wobbly way into the unknown

      17 May 2022

      The standard model of particle physics may be broken

      11 May 2022

      Meet Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s personal ‘fixer’

      6 May 2022

      Twitter takeover was brash and fast, with Musk calling the shots

      26 April 2022
    • Podcasts

      Dean Broadley on why product design at Yoco is an evolving art

      18 May 2022

      Everything PC S01E02 – ‘AMD: Ryzen from the dead – part 2’

      17 May 2022

      Everything PC S01E01 – ‘AMD: Ryzen from the dead – part 1’

      10 May 2022

      Llew Claasen on how exchange controls are harming SA tech start-ups

      2 May 2022

      The inside scoop on OVEX’s big expansion plans

      20 April 2022
    • Opinion

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022

      Cash is still king … but not for much longer

      31 March 2022

      Icasa on the role of TV white spaces and dynamic spectrum access

      31 March 2022

      Minister Ntshavheni is at risk of tripping up

      24 March 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»Sections»Energy»Eskom failures leave South Africa set for years of power cuts

    Eskom failures leave South Africa set for years of power cuts

    Energy By Paul Burkhardt24 November 2021
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    South Africa’s deepening energy crisis looks set to persist for at least two more years, with operational problems at the monolithic state power utility showing no signs of abating and plans to add new generation capacity ensnared in legal wrangling and red tape.

    The meltdown at Eskom is a legacy of chronic mismanagement and rampant corruption during former President Jacob Zuma’s tenure, along with a failure to adequately maintain plants and invest in new ones. André de Ruyter, who took over as CEO in January 2020, has fallen short on a pledge to ease rolling blackouts, with the rot permeating far deeper than he initially anticipated.

    Record outages this year have undermined efforts to revive the coronavirus-battered economy and President Cyril Ramaphosa has said they partly contributed to the ANC’s worst-ever electoral showing in this month’s municipal vote.

    The country faces some serious challenges on power supply over the next few years

    “We’re not seeing the results that we expected” from Eskom, Fanele Mondi, CEO of the Energy Intensive Users Group, whose members including Anglo American and Glencore account for about 40% of the nation’s electricity consumption, said in an interview. He warned that the country faces “some serious challenges” on power supply over the next few years.

    Eskom’s biggest union and some business groups have called for De Ruyter to take the fall and quit, or be fired. He counters that the problems at the utility — whose CEOs have on average lasted a year over the past decade — pre-date his tenure and more government help is needed to improve its performance.

    The extent of Eskom’s woes are evident at its Tutuka power station, which was built in the 1980s to generate about 3.6GW but is currently only capable of producing about a third of that.

    Malfunctioned

    When Sello Mametja arrived at the plant to take up the post of GM earlier this year, he discovered ground-floor staircases were knee-deep in ash and inaccessible. His predecessor ordered the waste to be dumped there — a shortcut to keep the units running and meet his short-term metrics. Yet more ash was discarded in what was supposed to be a water reservoir at the site about 160km south-east of Johannesburg, trapping an earth excavator and blocking drains when it hardened.

    Several officials at the plant have been suspended and investigations into their conduct are ongoing. A supplier and two Eskom employees were arrested earlier this month and charged with theft, fraud and corruption related to the disappearance of parts worth hundreds of millions of rand.

    Eskom’s other coal-fired power stations, including the newly built Kusile and Medupi plants, have also repeatedly malfunctioned, with maintenance at some sites compromised by uncertainty over funding. A unit at its Koeberg nuclear plant had to be taken off line last year after one of its seawater pumps was clogged by jellyfish.

    André de Ruyter

    While fraud, theft and misspending has been reduced, it’s far from eliminated, according to De Ruyter. He also alleges that the company is being targeted by saboteurs opposed to efforts by management to turn it around. Some transmission-tower supports were deliberately severed, he told reporters last week, presenting pictures of the damage as evidence.

    Eskom intends accelerating the closing of some of its oldest plants to reduce emissions and switch to producing more green energy with the aid of an US$8.5-billion funding offer made by wealthy nations at this month’s Cop26 climate summit in Scotland. Concessional loans and grants will, however, be dispensed over three to five years and the terms have yet to be finalised.

    The government is also trying to get private investors and companies to build new plants to plug a generation gap that De Ruyter estimates may be as much as 6GW. It aimed to fill about a third of the shortfall with an emergency procurement programme to bring new capacity online within 18 months, but that’s been delayed by a legal dispute.

    Eskom intends accelerating the closing of some of its oldest plants to reduce emissions and switch to producing more green energy

    Bidders have been separately selected to supply another 2.6GW of renewable power to the grid and they’re expected to secure financing early next year and finish their projects within 24 months. Rules have also been relaxed to enable companies to generate their own power — they no longer require licences to build plants producing as much as 100MW — but those will also take time to complete.

    The Minerals Council of South Africa, which represents the country’s biggest mining companies, said its members are at various stages of planning and building plants that could generate 3.9GW of renewable energy.

    Obstacles include truncated environmental impact assessments and uncertainty over the use of Eskom’s transmission lines, the council said.  — (c) 2021 Bloomberg LP

    Andre de Ruyter Eskom
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleEx-Newcastle mayor fined R20 000 over assault of fibre installers
    Next Article SA-born Google VP John Solomon on the future of Chromebooks

    Related Posts

    This crypto winter will be long, cold and harsh

    19 May 2022

    TikTok plans big push into gaming

    19 May 2022

    Why fibre is the new utility – and what it means for South Africa

    19 May 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Why fibre is the new utility – and what it means for South Africa

    19 May 2022

    Why data protection is the key to successful digital transformation

    19 May 2022

    Putting IT monitoring on the spot

    18 May 2022
    Opinion

    From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

    19 April 2022

    How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

    8 April 2022

    Cash is still king … but not for much longer

    31 March 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.