Eskom, Our Electricity Utility, Makes International Headlines
Would you drive your car until the tank was empty?
I bet you wouldn’t.
But South Africans learned at 05:26 on Friday, November 18, that load shedding (our moniker for rolling power blackouts) would intensify because Eskom had run out of diesel.
They need this fuel for their backup open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) and don’t have the funds to purchase more.
What a way to run a country into the ground!
The initial intention of OCGTs was to use them only for emergencies that could arise if several power stations failed at the same time. If the country experienced a total blackout, it would take weeks to get the grid up and running again.
However, so many power stations have broken down this year that these OCGTs have become a necessity during peak demand hours to avoid load shedding going beyond stage 6.
But Eskom had spent all their budget and said they wouldn’t be able to buy more diesel until April 1, 2023, their next financial year.
What are load-shedding stages?
Let me pause for a moment because if you don’t live in South Africa, you won’t know what stage 6 means. It’s become such familiar jargon here, where we rejoice when it’s only stage 1 load shedding and groan when it jumps up to stage 4, 5 or 6.
As you can see in the graph below from the EskomSePush App, the higher the stage, the more hours we are without power. Stage 1 cuts 1,000 megawatts of power, then each higher stage increases the number of power cuts in increments of 1,000 megawatts.
The higher the stage, the more hours we are without power on any one day.
As you can see, 2022 has been the worst year ever for load shedding.
Why has the generation capacity degenerated?
The popular excuse is our aging coal power plants. That’s true — up to a point.
Previous CEOs during the Zuma era neglected scheduled maintenance at these power stations, so they could brag about how there’d been no load shedding under their watch.
How long would your car keep running if you never serviced it?
Yes, Eskom continues to suffer from units tripping at these older power stations, but other factors exacerbate the crisis, including poorly skilled staff, a lack of training, corruption, and not employing the right people because of affirmative action.
Employee negligence
Koeberg nuclear plant — staff didn’t complete the containment shed for replacing steam generators at Unit 2 on time. This delayed the maintenance schedule and cut 900MW from the grid for several months, causing a delay in switching on the unit.
Kusile Power Station — building began in 2007 and design correction to the milling plant is only due for completion after December 2027, whereas the original ETA for completion was 2010. On October 23, a flue-gas duct (chimney) collapsed under the weight of ash deposits that traveled through faulty filters. Poor management as ash had been falling on cars in the parking bays for ages, yet no one investigated why. This took two 800MW units off the grid — a total capacity of 1,600 MS. One unit will remain offline for several months and it’ll cost a ton of money to fix.
Medupi Power Station — build also began in 2007 and is incomplete due to design defects linked to the initial contract with the Japanese construction company Hitachi. On August 7, a generator exploded at Unit 4 because employees didn’t pick up a hydrogen leak. Eskom put them on suspension for not following the correct procedures. This has cut 700MW from the grid until October 2024.
Sabotage and theft
This month, Eskom apprehended a maintenance contractor who had removed the bearing oil drain plug from one unit at Camden Power Station on purpose, causing the burners to trip repeatedly. He confessed he did it to secure more work for his company.
These types of incidents have been going on for years and the clean-up of the corruption during the years of Zuma’s presidency and State Capture takes time.
The swopping of truckloads of high-quality coal for low-quality coal and coal products has been going on for years, resulting in damage to generating units. That’s why the infamous Gupta brothers, now languishing in jail in Dubai awaiting extradition to South Africa, were so keen to buy Optimum Coal Mining — another corrupt deal.
This criminality requires collusion between mine employees, illegal coal yards, coal truck drivers, and Eskom employees. The ‘coal mafia’ exports this high-quality coal at 10 times the price paid by Eskom, as Russia’s war in Ukraine has meant even bigger profits for these syndicates.
Eskom is trying to eliminate the theft of coal, diesel, and oil. In the past two weeks, the police have arrested three coal truck drivers, two on November 11, and the third on November 23.
“The arrest of these unscrupulous individuals is a significant step in our fight against crime in Eskom, and we shall continue in our pursuit to ensure that the perpetrators face the full might of the law,” Karen Pillay, Eskom general manager for security.
I could cite many other past incidents of sabotage and theft which contribute to our low Energy Availability Factor (EAF).
The year-to-date EAF (Energy Availability Factor) for the full Eskom fleet stood at 58.53%, its lowest level yet and well below the utility’s target, while the coal-fleet-only EAF has slumped to 53.9%.
Two Group Executives for Generation have resigned from Eskom over the last six months, citing work pressure impacting their family lives. Eskom has appointed an interim Group Executive, but I don’t envy him for his job!
Mixed messaging and in it for the money
Countries applauded Cyril the Squirrel’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP) at Cop27.
It looks beautiful on paper!
A plan to ensure the EU, US, UK, France, and Germany will form the International Partners Group (IPG) to mobilise an initial $8.5 billion between 2023 and 2027 for South Africa to transition from coal by 2040. According to the plan’s modeling assumptions, we need $ 99 billion.
Where will that money come from if our national power utility can’t even afford to buy diesel for emergency backup when we have an outage?
Ramaphosa loves committees — a way to convince us he and his party are taking action.
He established the Presidential Climate Finance Task Team (PCFTT) in February 2022 to interface with the IPG on the terms and conditions of the agreement. The PCFTT then advised an Inter-Ministerial Committee on these terms to ensure that JET-IP aligns with the country’s ambitions and priorities.
Whoa! Hang on a minute!
Our Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, whose popular moniker is The Fossil, announces that fracking and gas exploration will soon begin in the Karoo! And we activists are forever fighting court battles to stop seismic exploration off our pristine shorelines.
The Fossil fights back and calls us unpatriotic. He believes gas and oil will bring in the much needed revenue to kick-start our economy — and doesn’t care about environmental damage.
If he had his way, by the time these projects are complete (if ever, as evidenced by the Medupi and Kusile power stations, which are still incomplete after fifteen years), South Africa will sit with stranded assets.
If he doesn’t keep his mouth shut, we can kiss that $8.5 billion goodbye!
Impact on our daily lives
The total hours of blackouts so far this year are equivalent to four months without electricity.
For over 80 consecutive days since September, we have endured up to twelve hours a day without power — ruining livelihoods, businesses, the economy, and the food in our fridges.
Meanwhile, ministers enjoy the luxury of subsidised generators paid for with our taxes.
That sucks!
In the semi-rural region where I live, we experience power outages over and above the scheduled load shedding. An additional substation and transformer to feed our area have been in the pipeline for over five years, but the project remains in limbo, so we suffer from frequent tripping of units.
I find it so frustrating as the broadband internet signal drops every time the power is off. This puts the brakes on my writing output and prevents me from seeking remote work in writing opportunities that could earn me a decent living.
How could I meet deadlines without a reliable internet connection?
Nothings gets fixed
I laughed when I read a news report of Ramaphosa talking to UK investors while on his official state visit to meet with King Charles III.
He’s a good salesman, but wouldn’t persuade me to invest in a country where nothing works. Promises of fixing the potholes, the rail network, the ports, and the electricity are just that — promises.
Until he and the ANC walk the talk and implement the myriad of action plans they have conjured up in the past without implementation, I doubt any sane investor would part with their money.
A little good news.
Eskom has sourced 50 million litres of diesel from PetroSA, another state-owned enterprise (SOE), but it won’t last for long. At least we’ll enjoy more power hours for now!
The Treasury is looking at further financing options, but I won’t hold my breath — the country is so broke and broken already.
We’ll have to live with daily blackouts for the next eighteen months, provided Eskom sorts out its generation woes.
I try to stay calm, but a storm arrived as I finished writing this.
My stress levels rose as the lights flickered on and off three times and now remain off for God knows how long. I’ll have to return later to polish and edit. SOOO frustrating when I wanted to publish this today.
(Whew! Power returned two hours later.)
Now I think of the courageous folks in Ukraine who are suffering in a freezing winter with water and electricity outages as Russia bombs their infrastructure.
If they can handle that and not surrender to despair, who am I to complain?
Thank you for being here.