The energy availability of Eskom’s generation plants is supposed to be as high as 80%, but was last month as low as 69%, an Eskom board member warned recently.

We last saw loadshedding in March this year, after a cyclone in Mozambique affected power imports from the affected country. Eskom also didn’t have enough diesel to power its open cycle gas turbines and this resulted in widespread load-shedding.

“Most of our power stations are in need of maintenance to improve reliability… we do our best to strike the right balance between plant maintenance and keeping the lights on,” said Eskom chairperson and acting CEO Jabu Mabuza.

Headquarters of Eskom, Megawatt park, north of Johannesburg. Eskom generates approximately 95% of the electricity used in South Africa and approximately 45% of the electricity used in Africa.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has bentioned that it has a plan to deal with Eskom’s R450bn debt and the new deal to have Eskom split into three seperate units, name;y generation, transmission and distribution, is set to be discussed in cabinet today, with the view to find a swift resolution into how this deal is to be implemented. The economy has taken a hit recently and severe load-shedding, while not completely avoidable, needs to be manage to reduce it’s effect on the economy.

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The coveted African Power, Energy & Water Industry awards has been taken place for the past six years, during the African Utility Week and POWERGEN Africa conference and exhibition, in Cape Town. The prestigious African Power & Energy Elites Publication celebrates leadership and successful projects in the sector since 2016.

The two combined to host an award programme, known as the African Power & Energy Elites and offer even more benefits, recognition and exposure for the finalists and winners. This is apart from the high quality publication and glamorous awards evening. Some of the benefits available for finalists and winners includes access to, and speaking opportunities at leading energy events on the continent and a VIP tour of Cape Town and surrounds and an on-camera interview at the awards evening, amongst others.

In a collaborative effort, the African Power & Energy Elites and the African Power, Energy and Water Industry Awards will align with a single nomination and selection process across a set of complementary categories.

2020 project categories:

1. Leadership profile
2. Generation innovation and optimisation
3. Renewable energy generation innovation and optimisation
4. Rural Electrification
5. Transmission & Distribution
6. Smart Cities
7. Finance & Investment
8. Digital Transformation

The selected leaders and projects will automatically become nominees for the African Power, Energy and Water Awards set to take place on the 13th of May 2020.

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She does go on to explain why a positive economic outlook would have a negative impact on Eskom and it’s operations. It may seem like a very outlandish or absurd comment, but the explanation makes logical sense if you think it through. The main logical reason for this is that, the better the economy performs, the greater the demand becomes for energy.

This becomes an issue especially because energy availability in South Africa is about 11% below what it should be, currently sitting at 69%, a figure that should be sitting around 80%. This sentiment was echoed by Independent Energy thought leader CEO Mike Rossouw, who said the problems at Eskom can be attributed to completely wrong pricing policy.

Sharing his thoughts on this, he goes on to say that in the past, the current policy could be seen as suitable due to a smaller scale and less investment in new plants. However, presently Eskom can not generate the revenue needed to support investment into the new plants it is building, neither to support the scale of it’s operations.

He lamented that the focus on fixing Eskom was on addressing the symptoms, rather than the root cause of pricing policy.

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The storm has had devastating consequences for South Africa as well. Although not deadly, the storm knocked down electricity and phone networks and cut off power to South Africa from a hydropower dam.

Cyclone Idai damaged a Mozambican transmission line to South Africa, in the process cutting supply to the country by a whopping 900MW which immediately worsened the electricity shortage in South Africa. This resulted in Eskom bumping up rotational load shedding from Stage 2 to Stage 4 on Saturday, due to the 900MW loss in supply from Mozambique.

The on-going load-shedding has impacted small and middle businesses negatively, has caused traffic bust ups, even cellphone networks were not spared with many users struggling for signal.

There is good news though! The situation should improve from the public holiday on Thursday and going forward, as the demand begins it’s decline. That, coupled with a shipment of diesel expected to arrive today (19th March, 2019) and should be ready for use in the next few days, should bring some much needed relief to the power grid.

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