On November 8 Eskom announced that the country would move to Stage 4 loadshedding. South Africans are livid as blackouts continue to escalate in frequency.
Read also: Stage 4 loadshedding to be implemented from 1pm today
It’s quite something to ‘address the nation’ at 4pm when most of the country is scheduled to have no power, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Robyn Simpson.
Nonetheless, this is what Eskom’s Group Chief Executive André De Ruyter had to say about “the current system challenges”.
- There is a lack of capacity in the country. We need between 4 000 MW and 6 000 MW of capacity to be added to the grid as quickly as possible.
- Eskom welcomes the announcement of the preferred bidders of the renewable energy independent power producer procurement programme. This can help address the capacity challenge.
- Challenges are exacerbated by a lack of funding.
- Some municipalities have also not played their role when it comes to implementing loadshedding, he adds. Some only implement it on a fractional basis to what their commitment should be. As a result, Eskom has had to deepen loadshedding to Stage 4.
- They have also had challenges at a number of plants including Kendal and Koeberg. This is on top of the explosion at unit 4 at Medupi. There was also a transformer fire at Kendal unit 1.
- Eskom has appointed a recovery team to start fixing this unit. It will not be available for at least 18 to 24 months.
- The most reliable power plant for Eskom is Lethabo in the Free State, but in the last two weeks only three units have been operating.
- Eskom is expected to implement Stage 3 loadshedding from 5am on Wednesday.
- A gradual reduction is reportedly expected to follow over the next few days, with Stage 2 loadshedding to kick in from Friday morning.
Read also: Stage 3 loadshedding expected from 5am on Wednesday
- De Ruyter notes the inconvenience of loadshedding to the public, especially students who have to write exams. He urges South Africans to take steps to manage their demand (such as switching off pool pumps and geysers).
- Commenting on leadership, De Ruyter said it is important to note that the executives are appointed by the board, in turn appointed by the Minister of Public Enterprises, and in turn once again, appointed by the president. He adds that it is important to have continuity of management, rather than to fall in the trap of high turnover of executives as has been the case in the past 10 years.
- De Ruyter assures us that Eskom is not on the brink of a system collapse.
- Capacity needs to increase he expresses. Unless the 4 000 MW to 6 000 MW of new capacity is added, the risk of loadshedding will remain. The capacity is needed to give Eskom room to carry out maintenance and meet increasing energy demand going forward.
- Eskom leaders should be called to account “to explain why midlife refurbishment, for example, was not performed as it should have been.”
- De Ruyter additionally states that Eskom has not entered into power purchase agreements with Karpowership.
- There is a hiring freeze at Eskom, but there is an exemption for scarce and critical skills.
- In closing, De Ruyter says that loadshedding is a matter of national importance.
- “You may think switching off your lights, or only filing the kettle to the level you need does not make a difference, but if all customers all use energy wisely it will make a difference to demand. Everyone must play their part in managing the constrained electricity supply wisely,” says De Ruyter.
What seems to not have been mentioned, pertains to the ‘billions pledge’ that some world leaders agreed to in light of helping Eskom out of the trenches.
Also Read: Light at the end of Eskom’s tunnel? World leaders pledge billions to aid SA
Now Twitter users were quick to react to De Ruyter’s address, and have started debating whether or not De Ruyter is the man for the job. Is he to blame or should we consider a long history of neglect? The internet is somewhat divided.
Here are some Twitter thoughts:
- “Not sure if de Ruyter is the man for the job. That being said, I’m not sure who is,” – Bianca van Wyk.
- “Fire De Ruyter tomorrow. Bring the best CEO in the world. But loadshedding would continue. The problem isn’t De Ruyter and his team. The problem is historical neglect by a few administrations. No CEO has a magic wand to reverse institutionalized neglect instantly. Let’s go!” – Khulani Qoma.
- “It’s a systemic problem. De Ruyter has some levers in his hands, DMRE has others, Public Works a few and so on. There’s context too. Eskom is one of the largest global energy entities. Why? Who chose that route? Who put all our eggs in the coal basket? Who delayed REIPPP’s?” – Gary M Koekemoer.
- “The problem is that our expectations are unrealistic. I challenge any South African to take de Ruyters job & see it for what it really is. Outside of ESKOM we’re all spectators telling them what to do and how to do it without understanding anything about actually playing the game,” – Mark Carolissen.
- “12 CEOs in 12 years, that has to ring-bells that the problem is not the CEOs but the ruling party that intervened in operational matters to destabilise the SOC so that they can buy it and turn it into a private company,” – Thabo Mashiloane.
Meanwhile, speaking on the sidelines of the ANC’s “thank you” rally, President Cyril Ramaphosa described the move to Stage 4 as a “calamity.”
“If there’s anything that keeps me awake at night, it’s Eskom and the electricity issues,” said the President. He says that “one of our biggest risks is that we rely on a single electricity generator.”
According to Ramaphosa, they are looking into the electricity issue. He proposed that Eskom needs to be restructured to “enable us to have generation but that generation will be able to purchase generated electricity from others.”
President Ramaphosa did admit that some blackouts are the result of negligence. He then added that when other power stations came in as emergency, they broke down due to overload.
“These are machines and they do break,” he said.
According to IOL, former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe says Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and President Ramaphosa need to be held responsible for the country’s power crisis.
Molefe has called for a parliamentary inquiry into the leadership of both Ramaphosa and Gordhan.
Furthermore, Molefe has reportedly issued a warning. He says that one more unit tripping could result in Stage 6 loadshedding.
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