Cape Town - Despite ambitious goals, Eskom’s woes are far from over as the power utility only expects to yield some results of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s crisis plan in a year’s time.
This came to light as several Eskom officials, including chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer and acting head of generation Rhulani Mathebula, briefed the media on the current state of the system on Monday.
The initiatives mentioned by the president in June included making land available next to Eskom power stations for renewable energy projects; increasing the budget allocated for critical maintenance over the next year; recruiting skilled personnel; cutting red tape; and buying surplus capacity from existing independent power producers, among others.
Apologising to the nation for having to implement load shedding once again, Oberholzer said: “Many ask why are we still in load shedding since the presidential initiative, as the new initiative should have delivered results by now.
“However, it is going to take time to implement. Over the next 12 months we may not see the required benefits yet. Until these new projects are realised we will need to rely on the old coal fleet. It is important to understand there are various plans in place to increase installed capacity, but it is going to take time to implement.”
He said the last week had been “extremely disappointing”, with several generators shutting down.
“Demand and supply are not in balance, and because they are not in balance we have to run the emergencies.
“We would like to do more maintenance, but there is not enough capacity to take off multiple generators simultaneously.
“We are finding the maintenance we are doing is not yielding (the desired results). Many return from planned maintenance only to suffer more breakdowns.”
He believed this was due to a lack of skills within Eskom and its partner contractors.
He added there was an Energy Crisis Committee divided into eight work streams, that was sitting every two weeks.
Meanwhile Eskom has also finalised its application to renew the nuclear licence for the Koeberg nuclear power station for another 20 years as it is set to expire in 2024.
This while supplier issues were delaying the delivery of a steam generator for one of the units.
Unit number two at the plant that produces 920MW also remained on shutdown since the early hours of Saturday when a reactor tripped, Oberholzer said.
“The Koeberg team with the regional equipment manufacturer continue to perform tests and are analysing results to ensure the reason is fully understood,” he said.
Chief nuclear officer Keith Featherstone added: “The one we are waiting for is scheduled to arrive on December 8. It was on a stand in an assembly line in factory where one of the arms that hold the wheel failed and the generator dropped foot on the floor. It is undergoing final inspections. Luckily one generator prepared for unit 2 is compatible with unit 1.”
Cape Times