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EconomyEnergySouth Africa

Eskom to increase load-shedding stages for the week

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

Eskom will increase load-shedding from stage 1 to a rotation of stage 2 and stage 3 for the rest of the week.

The utility said it would implement stage 3 on the evening of Tuesday, 27 December 2022, until 05:00 on Wednesday, 28 December 2022.

Stage 2 will be implemented from 05:00 until 16:00 on Wednesday, 28 December 2022. This rotation of stage 2 and stage 3 will be repeated every day for the rest of the week.

Eskom did not provide details on why it was necessary to increase load-shedding from stage 1, which it implemented after a 24-hour suspension of the power cuts on Christmas Day.

Electricity demand during the peak evening period on that day was below 20,000MW, much less than the 25,000-30,000MW of typical peak demand. It was also well short of the nearly 25,000MW of generating capacity available at the time.

It is not clear if electricity demand had increased since that time or if further generating unit breakdowns occurred that significantly impacted the gap between capacity and demand.

Eskom again appealed to South Africans to conserve as much electricity as possible during the period.

SOURCE: My broadband

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EnergySouth Africa

South Africa passes 200 days of power cuts as 2022 ends

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

South Africa passed 200 days of power cuts in 2022 on Tuesday, with more to come.

Eskom has implemented record rotational blackouts this year because its old and poorly maintained power stations continually break down. The energy shortages have dented investment and weighed on output. 

“The fluctuations in the supply of electricity have profound implications for the economy and could be viewed as the biggest risk to growth and through that the future of South Africa,” said Sygnia executive chair Magda Wierzycka, in an e-mailed response to questions. 

The South African Reserve Bank said last month that power outages mean the economy is only likely to expand by 0.1% in the final quarter. It predicts economic growth will slow to 1.1% in 2023 from 1.8% this year and it assumes increased power rationing will shave 0.6 percentage points off output.

The resignation of André de Ruyter as CEO of Eskom gives South Africa the opportunity to bring in a skilled and experienced CEO that has the requisite political support, Wierzycka said. “It will not be easy to find someone suitable, but the government cannot afford to get it wrong one more time.”

Eskom supplies most of the nation’s electricity and doesn’t generate enough revenue to cover its operating costs and interest bill, leaving it dependent on state bailouts to survive. 

Its outgoing CEO warned Friday that the power supply outlook for next year will be very constrained, and blackouts will continue until an additional 4000MW to 6000MW of generating capacity is added to the grid. — With assistance from Renee Bonorchis and Amogelang Mbatha.

SOURCE: News 24

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BusinessSouth AfricaTechnology

Eskom reports R12.3-billion loss for the year ending

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

Eskom has announced that it has incurred a R12.3 billion loss for the year ending 31 March 2022.

This is an improvement on 2021’s R25 billion loss caused by Eskom’s significant debt problem — which saw the power provider spend approximately R38.9 billion on repaying capital, and R32.5 billion in interest.

“The debt burden still continues to play a significant role in the finances of Eskom,” said Eskom CEO André de Ruyter.

“If a solution to this debt is not found, we will rely on ever-larger support from national treasury to service debt and non-payment from municipalities.”

De Ruyter then highlighted the significance of municipal non-payments to Eskom’s financial challenges. “This area is of grave concern to Eskom and its board,” said De Ruyter.

“We are aware that we are under legal obligation to keep supplying municipalities who do not pay us, as confirmed by the recent verdict in the constitutional court.”

“While we will respect the court judgement and abide by it, this begs the question of who will service the debt.”

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha added that the state-owned power utility is “exploring measures” to safeguard its interests. While Eskom reported a net loss after tax, it saw a significant operating profit of R20.4 billion — up from R6 billion in 2021.

This was partially driven by increased sales volumes of 198,281GWh, mainly thanks to many sectors recovering following the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.

Eskom’s EBITDA was also up from R32.6 billion in 2021 to R52.4 billion this year. “Financial indicators have improved significantly despite navigating a very challenging operating environment,” said Eskom chief financial officer Calib Cassim.

A weak future

Eskom does not envision its upward trends continuing in 2023, however.

It forecasts a net loss of R20.1 billion — a 63% increase.

Eskom believes its losses will increase because of a decline in sales volumes, increased maintenance spending, and higher spending on OCGTs and fuel oil due to continued low EAF and capacity constraints.

Energy availability factor (EAF) measures how many generating units at Eskom’s power plants are available at any given time.

Its average EAF has declined significantly, as shown in the following chart from EE Business Intelligence.

“Eskom’s week-on-week energy availability factor (EAF) for week 50, 2022, hits a new record low of 50.73%. This after a record low of 51.55% for week 49, 2022,” EE Business Intelligence head Chris Yelland said this week.

Open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) are Eskom’s rapid-response emergency diesel-powered plants. Its two main facilities — Ankerlig and Gourikwa — generate enough electricity to mitigate around two stages of load-shedding.

However, they are also an essential resource for rapidly dispatching capacity and stabilizing the power grid if several generating units at its coal-fired power stations break down. Eskom has relied heavily on its OCGTs this year and announced in November that it had run out of money to buy diesel.

Minister Pravin Gordhan’s Department of Public Enterprises stepped in and reportedly brokered a deal with PetroSA for additional diesel.

However, Eskom has been using the fuel sparingly in recent weeks, resulting in South Africa experiencing extended stage 5 and stage 6 load-shedding.

De Ruyter also acknowledged that its timeline for the legal separation of Eskom’s transmission, distribution, and generation units had been delayed.

Army and Hawks deployed at Eskom power stations

De Ruyter said Eskom welcomes the deployment of the Hawks and the SANDF to secure Eskom assets.

However, he was critical of how long it had taken for this to become a reality.

“My only regret is that it has taken so long for these agencies to engage with a matter of national security,” said De Ruyter.

“It’s a grave pity where we had to get to such a situation where Eskom itself with privately funded intelligence gathering to convince these law enforcement agencies to assist.”

He said that he hopes this will be a turning point and that these organizations will treat Eskom’s challenges with urgency.

SOURCE: My broadband

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BusinessEconomyEnergySouth AfricaUncategorized

South Africa’s statistics agency considers adding self-generated power to it’s monthly electricity data

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

South Africa’s statistics agency is considering including self-generated power in its monthly electricity-generation data as more households and businesses reduce their reliance on state-owned utility Eskom.
Adding the metric would broaden a key indicator used by economists to compile estimates of gross domestic product at a time when consumers are being forced to find alternative sources of energy because Eskom’s old and poorly maintained plants can’t cope with demand.

“We actually need to find a smarter way to measure the electricity that’s self-generated, because at the moment our monthly survey covers Eskom mostly and there are about 20 other smaller power stations,” Joe de Beer, deputy director-general of economic statistics at Statistics South Africa, said in an interview in Pretoria. The agency currently doesn’t measure how much power is generated by shopping centers, big mines, and manufacturers that use solar plants, he said.

A surge in manufacturing output in September despite the worst month on record of load shedding, suggests companies may be relying more on alternative sources of power supply during blackouts, Peter Worthington, a senior economist at Absa said.

Better-than-expected third-quarter economic growth of 1.6%, compared with a contraction of 0.7% in the prior three-month period, may also point to industries using alternative energy sources.

“Economic activity was reasonably firm in electricity-intensive sectors during peak load-shedding months, indicating a higher level of backup usage and alternative sources of energy coming onstream,” said Sanisha Packirisamy, an economist at Momentum Investments. “That together with a structural decline in energy intensity in SA can explain the difference.”

The South African Reserve Bank said last month that record power outages mean the economy is only likely to expand by 0.1% in the final quarter. It predicts GDP growth will slow to 1.1% in 2023 from 1.8% this year and it assumes increased power rationing will shave 0.6 percentage points off output.

An income and expenditure survey that field workers began collecting data for last month may provide more insight into what households are doing, De Beer said.

The statistics office has also begun surveying big companies on whether they are self-generating power, De Beer said. Discussions are taking place with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa on whether it can supply an annual list of mines or businesses that are generating electricity to get a better sense of how much electricity is being generated outside Eskom, he said.

“At the moment, I don’t think it’s very meaningful,” De Beer said. “I think most of the electricity still comes from Eskom and the proper power stations.”

SOURCE: News 24

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BusinessEconomyEnergySouth Africa

Eskom load-shedding hit stage 7 power cuts for general electricity users

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

Eskom “technically” implemented stage 7 load-shedding at one point last week, according to the Bureau for Economic Research’s (BER’s) latest weekly review.

The BER argues Eskom’s power cuts reached this level if you account for the load curtailment against specific business users.

Load curtailment is a mechanism through which Eskom asks some of its most demanding power users to reduce electricity consumption in periods of low electricity availability.

Some of these customers — which typically include mines and factories — could reduce their power use by up to 20%.

 Peak demand statistics shared by Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha showed the utility had used this mechanism during one evening peak last week.

At the country’s electricity evening demand peak around 19:38 on Wednesday, 7 December 2022, Eskom shed 447MW through “interruptible load supply”, another word for load curtailment. At the same time, it was shedding 6,477MW through stage 6 load-shedding to general electricity users.

Combined, the electricity shed reached 6,894MW —106MW shy of stage 7 load-shedding.

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This amount was possibly higher at some point during the day, as load curtailment customers typically have lower usage in the evenings.

Koeberg Unit delay avoids stage 7 for general users

Eskom appeared to narrowly avoid stage 7 power cuts for general electricity users last week after it postponed the shutdown of koeberg unit 1 by three days — from Wednesday, 7 December to Saturday, 10 December 2022.

That came after energy analyst Ted Blom warned that taking the unit offline for a prolonged maintenance outage as planned would increase load-shedding from stage 6 to stage 7 unless Eskom was able to reduce breakdowns in other parts of its generating fleet.

That would have been the highest stage of load-shedding ever implemented at a national level.

Eskom’s fleet had among its lowest generating capacity on record last week, leading to a fluctuating schedule of stage 6 and stage 5 load-shedding. But it appeared to be recovering heading into the weekend, with a statement announcing  it would drop the rotational power cuts to stage 4 on Saturday, and stage 2 on Sunday, 11 December 2022.

However, by early Saturday afternoon, it had lost three more generating unit and experienced “unusually” high demand. With the shutdown of Koeberg Unit 1 in the morning, this necessitated an increase to stage 5 load-shedding until further notice.

The BER said that the country’s economic performance during the third quarter has remained fairly resilient despite the intense load-shedding.

However, it warned that the real impact would only be seen in the coming months, as the effects of the “reopening” boost to the economy and other normalisation from the second quarter began to fade.

It also raised concern over delays in new generating capacity that was supposed to be added to the grid as part of the latest round of private power projects in the IPP programme.

“Worryingly for the longer-term outlook, renewable projects of only 860MW (potentially 1000MW) have been advanced to preferred-bidder status following the last bid window,” BER said.

“The round would have allowed for about five times the amount of megawatts to be allocated.”

“Furthermore, not a single wind power project has been appointed, despite a significant number of bids.”

SOURCE: My broadband

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BusinessEconomyEnergySouth Africa

Eskom spends R3.2 billion a year on private security to tackle sabotage

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

South Africa’s state-owned power utility spends R3.2 billion a year on private security to tackle sabotage and to protect its senior executives, TimesLive reports.

Eskom’s general manager for security Karen Pillay butted heads with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) over the slow pace of prosecution for alleged sabotage cases at the power utility.

Pillay says she constantly receives death threats, adding that she gets calls from unknown individuals telling her to stop what she is doing and “get out of the way”. She isn’t the only executive at the power utility to have received threats against their life.

In May 2022, Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer received a bomb threat from a cellphone number not registered according to South Africa’s RICA law.

The power utility announced the incident in November after a suspect linked to the threat was arrested. On Friday, 18 November, the Hawks and contracted investigators traced and arrested a 27-year-old suspect — with “overwhelming evidence” reportedly linking the suspect to the crime.

Pillay said Eskom has to “micromanage” investigations into sabotage and faces challenges including prosecutors being unavailable after hours and the unwillingness of magistrates.

ALSO READ: Eskom increases load-shedding stage until further notice

“We’ve had to extend support in the sense that we’ve put watching briefs on some of the cases, where we contract legal experts to guide some of these prosecutors, and even the investigative teams on specific matters,” City Press quoted Pillay as saying.

“We’ve had issues such as the unavailability of prosecutors after hours, unavailability and unwillingness of magistrates, having to force commissioned police officers to obtain confessions — this is really challenging and time-consuming for us to manage.”

Pillay added that prosecutors don’t appear to understand the impact of these sabotage cases on the country, often releasing individuals on “ridiculous amounts” of bail. “It’s literally a process of having to walk each case as we present it before the court, almost the process of micromanaging,” she said.

The NPA, however, disagrees. The authority’s spokesperson Bulelwa Makeke said its specialized units are “highly skilled to deal with complex cases relating to essential infrastructure”. “There is no indication that the courts cannot deal with these offences,” City Press quoted Makeke as saying.

“It is also critical for the SOEs [state-owned enterprises] to ensure that their controls and security measures are in place to prevent any unlawful activities at their sites.”

Six arrests in two weeks

Between 16 and 30 November, Eskom’s efforts to tackle sabotage and theft at its power stations bore fruit, with six suspects arrested during the two weeks. Three individuals were arrested for illegally swapping Eskom’s coal delivery — which undergoes pre-tests and has to be certified by both the power utility and the mine in question — with sub-par coal.

The first incident involved only a truck driver truck driver spotted leaving an illegal coal yard by Bidvest Protea Coin investigators contracted by Eskom. The second coal-swapping incident saw both a truck driver and their supervisor arrested.

The driver admitted to offloading Eskom’s coal at the Rondebult coal yard and alleged that he had done so as instructed by his supervisor.

On 29 November 2022, Eskom announced the arrest of two security guards contracted by the utility who allegedly enabled diesel theft at the Port Rex Power Station in East London.

Eskom said the 5,863 litres of diesel the perpetrators allegedly helped steal was valued at approximately R145,930. The power utility announced the arrest of a maintenance contractor at its Camden Power Station on 16 November 2022.

The suspect was found to have intentionally removed a bearing oil drain plug, resulting in the repeated tripping of one of the generating unit’s oil burners.

“This malicious act caused all the oil to drain out from the bearing, thus damaging the bearing which, in turn, prevented the mills from operating optimally,” Eskom said. “Camden Unit 4 subsequently tripped after losing all the mills.”

SOURCE: My broadband

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EconomyEnergySouth Africa

Eskom increases load-shedding stage until further notice

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

Eskom will implement stage 4 load-shedding from 09:00 until further notice, the state-owned power utility said in a brief statement on Wednesday.

It said this is due to further breakdowns and delayed returns of generating units to service.

“Eskom will publish a full statement in due course.”

In an update to its timetable yesterday, Eskom said it was implementing load-shedding due to a high number of breakdowns and the need to preserve the remaining emergency generation reserves. It was also creating space to replenish dam levels at its pumped storage schemes, Eskom stated.

“As previously communicated, due to the depletion of the budget to acquire diesel for the open cycle gas turbines, Eskom has been forced to strictly conserve the remainder of the fuel reserves to protect against further unplanned outages,” the power utility said.

The chimney failure at Kusile, and the scheduled refueling and refurbishment of Koeberg unit 1 starting this week also contribute to the capacity shortage.

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“[These] will further reduce available generation capacity and significantly increase the occurrence of load-shedding during the next 6 –12 months,” Eskom said.

On 20 November, Eskom revealed that it had run out of money for diesel.

Eskom said it had already spent double its budget on diesel for this financial year — R11 billion. It uses the fuel at its open-cycle gas turbine peaking power stations Ankerlig and Gourikwa.

Together, the two stations generate 2,067MW of rapidly dispatchable electricity to help meet South Africa’s demand during peak periods, or prevent two stages of load-shedding.

However, due to its budget overrun, Eskom said it would not be ordering more diesel until April 2023. Government scrambled to obtain diesel supplies for the ailing power utility, with public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan informing Parliament last week that they secured a limited supply from state oil company PetroSA.

On Friday, finance minister Enoch Godongwana revealed that Eskom subsequently negotiated a deal with Petrosa for diesel that should cover its requirements until March 2023 — its financial year-end.

He also said that Eskom had asked National Treasury for R19.5 billion rand to buy diesel, but the department is not likely to grant the request. “We don’t have it,” Godongwana said.

Eskom said in a statement on Friday that it would no longer be burning diesel to reduce load-shedding. “Due to the depletion of the budget to acquire diesel for the open cycle gas turbines, Eskom has been forced to strictly conserve the fuel for the direst of emergencies,” it said.

SOURCE: My broadband

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Information & TechnologySouthern AfricaTechnology

Eskom announces stage 5 load shedding

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

Eskom has announced a reduction in the load-shedding stages it plans to implement in the coming week.

According to a statement on Sunday afternoon, the utility initially planned to implement stage 5 load-shedding during the evenings from 16:00 to midnight until Wednesday.

This will now be reduced to stage 4 load-shedding, which will run until 05:00 daily.

Eskom said the evening and overnight implementation of stage 4 would continue until further notice.

Tuesday’s daytime load-shedding between 05:00 and 16:00 will be at stage 2 instead of stage 3.

The planned load-shedding timetable, until further notice, may be summarised as follows:

  • 05:00–16:00 — Stage 2 (except Monday)
  • 16:00–05:00 — Stage 4

The table below shows the load-shedding stages planned for the coming days.

Eskom said this schedule would remain until it announces a further update.

Source: My Broadband

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BusinessEconomyFinance & ServicesSouth Africa

Court orders Eskom to scrap R16bn tender

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

Eskom has been ordered by a court to scrap a R16 billion tender award for the maintenance of high-pressure boilers and pipes at its 15 coal-fired power stations after it unfairly disqualified one of the bidders. 

The tender must be re-advertised within two months of the court order, and bidders will have two months to prepare their bids. Eskom will have another two months to evaluate the tenders. 

The judgment by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria was in response to an application by Babcock Ntuthuko Engineering, which was disqualified from the tender awarded in October 2021 because it did not furnish an ISO3484 welding certificate. Babcock argued that this certificate was already in Eskom’s possession when the bid was adjudicated as it provided it for earlier contracts. 

Instead, the split tender went to Actom and Steinmuller Africa. Between 2016 and 2021, the three firms had jointly serviced the 15 power stations, with Babcock responsible for four. These contracts were repeatedly renewed until they were re-advertised in 2019 and awarded in October 2021.

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Judge Anthony Millar said that at the root of the problem was “ambiguity” in the tender documents, which was not crystal clear “on the mandatory returnable documents” that should accompany bids. Because its documents were ambiguous, Eskom should have allowed Babcock to submit its ISO3484 welding certificate after the tender closed. 

Eskom’s failure to do so was procedurally unfair … and in consequence, the disqualification of Babcock from consideration in the award of the tender was both irrational and unlawful. Says the judgment

Millar said there was no suggestion that the bidders or the pricing of the tender were tainted in any way. As the role of Eskom in “sustaining the very fabric and life of the Republic could not be overstated.” The court ruled that Actom and Steinmuller should continue to render services to Eskom until a new tender was in place

SOURCE: News 24

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BusinessFinance & ServicesSouth Africa

Eskom generation boss resigns his position with immediate effect

by Radarr Africa
written by Radarr Africa

Eskom’s general executive for generation, Rhulani Mathebula, has resigned from his position and will leave the utility at the end of November 2022.

Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer announced the development at the start of the power utility’s latest state of the system update on Tuesday.

Mathebula has been acting in the position since Philip Dukashe’s resignation in May 2022. He had previously acted as Eskom’s group executive for generation before Dukashe’s appointment in April 2021.

Oberholzer thanked Mathebula for his service to the utility and the country as a whole and wished him well with his future endeavors. He did not divulge more details on the reason for Mathebula’s resignation.

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Oberholzer added that Mathebula’s successor would be announced in due course, pending the relevant procurement processes.Prosus gives up it’s stake in Russian’s largest social media siteOberholzer added that Mathebula’s successor would be announced in due course, pending the relevant procurement processes.

In the interim, Lethabo Power Station general manager Thomas Conradie has taken over the role. Conradie’s LinkedIn profile shows he has held various managerial positions at Eskom since joining the utility 23 years ago. At Lethabo, he has been the general power station manager since 2014.

Before that, he was a power station manager at the Matla and Kriel plants, and a maintenance manager at the Majuba Power Station. His list of qualifications includes a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stellenbosch University and an MBA from Unisa.

SOURCE: My broadband

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