Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

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

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Listed: All the MVNOs in South Africa – 2025 edition

      19 June 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      19 June 2025

      WhatsApp founders hated ads – Meta is adding them anyway

      19 June 2025

      China’s car factories run cold as price war masks deep overcapacity

      19 June 2025

      Yellow Card, Visa in deal to hasten stablecoin uptake in Africa

      19 June 2025
    • World

      Watch | Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk’s Mars mission

      19 June 2025

      Trump Mobile dials into politics, profit and patriarchy

      17 June 2025

      Samsung plots health data hub to link users and doctors in real time

      17 June 2025

      Beijing’s chip champions blacklisted by Taiwan

      16 June 2025

      China is behind in AI chips – but for how much longer?

      13 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | AfriGIS’s Helen Hulett on how tech can help resolve South Africa’s water crisis

      18 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025
    • Opinion

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » Eskom warns of more load shedding

    Eskom warns of more load shedding

    By Lynley Donnelly29 July 2014
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    Eskom-640-2

    Eskom warned that load shedding may worsen this winter as the power utility battles with electricity outages caused by problems with its ageing infrastructure.

    Speaking at a joint meeting of parliament’s portfolio committees on energy and public enterprises, acting CEO Collin Matjila said the increased possibility of load shedding “remains a risk we are going to have to live with”.

    Current electricity reserve levels are at 6%, which will continue to lead to “forced demand reduction”, said Matjila.

    Matjila said Eskom is putting revised load shedding schedules in place in a bid to provide customers with a level of predictability and allow them to prepare in advance — even if it is only by a day.

    The performance of Eskom’s existing ageing power stations has been a major challenge for the utility in its battle to keep the lights on. Only three of its 13 coal-fired power stations are younger than the 30-year design life expected of these plants — ranging from the youngest, Matjuba, at 17 years old to the oldest, Komati, which came online 52 years ago. As a result, the energy availability factor (EAF) is at 75%, well below Eskom’s targeted 80%.

    The EAF measures power plant availability in addition to energy losses that are not under the control of plant management, which have led to increases in unplanned failures, mechanical maintenance failures, the longer duration of outages, the need for additional specialised engineering and rising costs.

    Since November last year, Eskom has experienced six emergency incidents — three in June alone — which have caused various levels of load shedding.

    Members of parliament were less than impressed with Eskom’s explanations for the difficulties it was experiencing with its plants.

    The Democratic Alliance’s spokesman for energy, Lance Greyling, argued that the scale of unplanned outages has increased, with the outages often occurring after routine maintenance on a power station. This has led to increased reliance by Eskom on its expensive diesel-fuelled open-cycle gas turbines, Greyling noted. Eskom has spent more than R10bn to run these diesel plants, substantially increasing its costs.

    Matjila conceded that unplanned outages had at one stage run at about 17% but said that Eskom was working to address this.

    Matjila told the committees that Eskom is in the process of rebuilding internal capacity, which it has lost. It has also identified deficiencies in its maintenance planning as well as the performance of contractors employed to do the maintenance on Eskom’s behalf.

    He said that the power utility has advised contractors that it will increase penalties for the late return of units that have been out for maintenance. It will also review contracts, and expects performance to improve — on pain of contract termination. “Most contractors will begin to change their behaviour if they feel the pain in their pockets,” he said.

    The utility has a five-year recovery plan to meet its generation targets. But in the year ahead it will still need 7,4GW of additional capacity to satisfy all maintenance requirements.

    In addition to addressing the performance of its generation plants, Eskom has been working on a long-term sustainability plan to address its financial woes. The plan will be submitted to an interministerial task team comprising the departments of energy, public enterprises and the national treasury.

    Public enterprises minister Lynne Brown told MPs that the task team has received a draft report, and the final proposal is expected before the end of September, after which it will go to the cabinet.

    She also said a permanent CEO would be appointed to run Eskom by the middle of August.  — (c) 2014 Mail & Guardian

    • Visit the Mail & Guardian Online, the smart news source


    Collin Matjila Eskom Lynne Brown
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleSamsung pumps R210m into SA TV plant
    Next Article Cashless in SA: can it be done?

    Related Posts

    The little-known company disrupting Eskom’s monopoly

    16 June 2025

    Coal to cash: South Africa gets major boost for energy shift

    13 June 2025

    Why AI could soon be managing your home solar system

    9 June 2025
    Company News

    Doing more with less: Altron and Microsoft to show the way forward

    19 June 2025

    Why parents choose CambriLearn for online education

    19 June 2025

    Disrupt first, ask questions later – the uncomfortable truth about incident response

    18 June 2025
    Opinion

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    AI and the future of ICT distribution

    16 June 2025

    Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

    13 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

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

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

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