Eskom

13 December 2023

Municipal debt a significant challenge, says Eskom

Location: News

Municipal debt a significant challenge, says Eskom

State-owned power utility, Eskom says the mounting debt by the City of Tshwane (CoT) and the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) for bulk electricity supply is posing a “significant challenge”.

According to Eskom, the City of Tshwane owes it some R4.2 billion while Ekurhuleni is currently in arrears of some R146 million.

“The accumulating debt not only strains Eskom's financial stability but also threatens the reliability of electricity supply across the province. The impact on Eskom's financial stability is exacerbated by the City of Tshwane's accumulation of unpaid bills and Ekurhuleni Municipality's late payments, and it affects the residents and businesses that rely on a stable power supply.

“If left unaddressed, the situation could lead to service interruptions, hindering economic activities. Despite continuous efforts to address the inconsistent and late payments, the debt, specifically that of the CoT, continues to grow and hinders Eskom's ability to invest in essential infrastructure, maintenance, and the development of sustainable energy solutions,” the power utility said.

The electricity supplier urged municipalities to “prioritise settling current accounts and outstanding electricity payments”.

“Eskom remains committed to working with municipalities to find viable solutions and mitigate the potential repercussions of the mounting debt,” the power utility said.

Meanwhile, an Eskom Tutuka Power Station employee, Katlego Twala, has been sentenced to one-year imprisonment or to pay a fine of R10 000 wholly suspended for five years after he was found guilty of stealing five drums of hydraulic fluid oil.

Eskom acting General Manager for Security Botse Sikhwitshi said: “Eskom has a zero-tolerance stance on acts of dishonesty and views the conduct of the employee as unacceptable. We will continue working on flushing out the minority that cast a shadow on the organisation”.

According to Eskom, the incident occurred in October last year while earlier this year, a contractor at the power station was arrested for fraud and corruption – symbolising a crackdown on illegal activities at the power utility.

“Eskom welcomes the sanction by the court and would like to thank the South African Police Service (SAPS), its own internal investigators and the National Prosecuting Authority for the positive outcome.

“Eskom urges the public to report information regarding illegal electricity sales, fraud, the theft of coal, fuel oil, and diesel and all other electricity-related crimes to the Eskom Crime Line: 0800 11 27 22. Reporting can be done anonymously,” the power utility said. – SAnews.gov.za

NeoB
Wed, 12/13/2023 - 10:02

172 views

12 December 2023

African Development Bank approves $300 million for energy governance and climate resilience

Location: News

African Development Bank Group (AfDB)
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The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) has approved a $300 million loan to South Africa to implement its Energy Governance and Climate Resilience Programme.

The Programme prepared in collaboration with other development partners including the World Bank and KfW Development Bank (KfW), will help advance South Africa's energy transition.

It will spur economic growth by furthering structural reforms to restore energy security, promote private sector participation in the electricity market and enhance the operational efficiency of the national power utility Eskom in line with South Africa's Energy Action Plan and the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP) 2023–2027.

The Programme will accelerate mitigation and adaptation efforts by promoting renewable energy generation and shifting businesses to low-carbon activities, resulting in lowering the carbon footprint of the South African economy and improving financing for green projects. These expected outcomes align with South Africa's updated Nationally Determined Contribution and the country's Long-term Low-Emissions Development Strategy.

It will ensure the security and affordability of energy for families and small businesses. It will enable the government to increase budget allocations to connect electricity to poor households and establish a mechanism to encourage families and micro- and medium-sized businesses to invest in renewable energy.

The reform priorities discussed with the Government are designed to complement and create synergies with existing support from the African Development Bank and other development finance institutions for the Just Energy Transition.

Through a $629 800 (470 000 UA) grant with co-financing from the Climate Insurance Fund, the Bank will provide support to ensure affected communities are not left behind, crowd in more women as decision-makers and support young entrepreneurs, especially women, to build skills and create jobs for the green economy.

South Africa's country's Energy Governance and Climate Resilience Programme aligns with the African Development Bank's ‘High 5' strategic priorities, especially "Light up and Power Africa", "Industrialise Africa", and "Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa".

Welcoming the operation, Mrs Leila Mokaddem, Director General for Southern Africa, noted the Bank's long-term support to South Africa's energy sector. Energy has the largest share of the Bank's portfolio at 43.4%. The programme complements this support and aligns with the recently approved Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for South Africa, which recognizes the centrality of Energy reforms to achieve economic growth and improve business confidence.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Editor's note: A previous version of this press release issued 31 October 2023, included references to potential contribution from the Government of Canada. This has been removed.

Media Contact:
Mansour Diouf
Communication and External Relations Department
Email: media@afdb.org

About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group is Africa's premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 41 African countries with an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org.

12 December 2023

Process to procure nuclear energy to launch

Location: News

Process to procure nuclear energy to begin

South Africa will soon begin the procurement process for some 2 500MW of nuclear energy.

Minister in The Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, announced this during a media briefing on Tuesday.

The Minister explained that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) had to satisfy a raft of rigorous National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) suspensive conditions, which take into account various factors before the go-ahead could be issued.

“The DMRE submitted a report to the regulator addressing suspensive conditions in July of 2023. NERSA still had an obligation to satisfy itself if the response from the DMRE to the suspensive conditions are sufficient for NERSA to consider giving this process the greenlight.

“I am happy to indicate that… NERSA considered the DMRE submission… and concluded that the suspensive conditions had been satisfactorily addressed. We are triggering now... essentially a procurement process. We are going out to ensure that we are able to get that additional 2 500MW of nuclear capacity to ensure that we are able to meet issues of national security and energy sovereignty,” Ramokgopa said.

During the briefing, the DMRE said it is looking to release requests for proposals for nuclear by March 2024.

The Minister emphasised that the move is a significant milestone because historically, "the process was mired in controversy".

“We are happy that we’ve been able to iron out the issues related to how the procurement process needs to unfold. We have met the regulatory requirements as per… the legal requirement and now we have the concurrence of NERSA, we are able to proceed.

“This is profound and what it does is to cement our unassailable position as a country, as a leader on the continent in relation to nuclear generation capacity and also the skills profile that we have,” he said.

The Ministerial determination and NERSA’s concurrence is expected to be gazetted soon.

Ramokgopa assured that while government continues to build towards energy security in the future, energy continues to be poured into addressing the immediate challenge of load shedding.

“Nuclear… gives us a significant and important platform for us to be able to ensure that we are able to secure a energy future for ourselves, energy sovereignty for ourselves. Of course, we continue to make every effort to address load shedding because the benefit of what we are announcing, you are not going to see it tomorrow, in a year’s time, you won’t see it in two years’ time… [In] three to four years, that’s when you’ll begin to see the benefits.

“But in the meantime, it’s important that we address the challenges with regards to the immediate problem of load shedding, whilst we secure the energy future, we don’t run into the same problem again in the future and nuclear has proven to be a reliable source of energy,” he said.

South Africa currently has one nuclear power station, Koeberg, located in the Western Cape. The station has two units, which produce 980MW, according to the Minister.

Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2019

During the briefing, Ramokgopa highlighted that Eskom’s current power station fleet is ageing – meaning that South Africa will have to generate additional sources of energy.

In this regard, the Minister alluded to the IRP 2019’s call for the commencement of “preparations for a nuclear build programme… at a pace and scale that the country can afford”, in anticipation of the need to supplement future energy demand when power stations reach their end of life.

Nuclear energy forms part of the IRP 2019’s future envisaged energy mix for South Africa.

“Part of the reason we are here with regards to the energy crisis is that generation can’t meet demand and therefore we need to have additional generation capacity… to help us to ensure that we are able to secure the country’s future,” Ramokgopa said.

According to the DMRE website, South Africa only generates about 6% of its electricity from nuclear energy generated at the Koeberg power station.

The Minister emphasised that the power station has been in operation for about 40 years, “incident free”.

“Now we are in the period of extension of life of Koeberg. We want to secure another 20 years of life of Koeberg. Unit 1 had gone out to meet the regulatory requirements for purposes of meeting the conditions for extension of life. After a significant amount of delays of about four months, now Unit 1 is running on full load.

“Yesterday [Monday], we then removed Unit 2 for purposes of meeting those regulatory requirements and… we are expecting that by August of next year, Unit 2 should come back,” Ramokgopa said. – SAnews.gov.za

NeoB
Tue, 12/12/2023 - 10:41

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11 December 2023

Operation Vulindela making “significant progress”

Location: News

Operation Vulindela making “significant progress”

The Presidency and National Treasury have released the third and fourth quarter progress report of Operation Vulindlela.

The report was released during a media briefing on Monday.

Operation Vulindlela was launched in 2020 and is an initiative between Treasury and the Presidency aimed at, among other things, accelerating the implementation of structural reforms and to support South Africa’s economic recovery.

The five desired outcomes of Operation Vulindlela are:

Stabilising of the electricity supply
Reduce cost and increased quality of digital communications
Sustainable water supply to meet demand
Competitive and efficient freight transport
A visa regime that attracts skills and grows tourism

National Treasury’s Nomvuyo Guma said: “In the time that Operation Vulindela has been in operation, we’ve been able to make significant progress in accelerating these reforms”.

The key achievements for quarters three and four are:

Analogue switch-off (ASO) was completed for all frequencies above 694 Megahertz (MHz) to enable the use of spectrum for mobile telecommunications. This key reform will improve network quality, reduce data costs and expand digital access.
The Electricity Regulation Amendment (ERA) Bill is on track in the National Assembly, with hearings completed in all provinces. The Bill represents a fundamental reform of the energy sector, and will establish a competitive energy market.
Three units at Kusile power station were returned to service ahead of schedule. This additional capacity has enabled a reduction in the severity of load shedding, with work underway to complete the remaining units at Kusile and Medupi power stations in 2024.
Eskom launched the Cross Border Standard Offer Programme (CBSOP). This programme enables Eskom to purchase up to 1 000 MW power of power on a short-term basis from utilities and Independent Power Producers in neighbouring countries.
The Minister of Public Enterprises announced the appointment of a permanent board for Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA). This will replace the current interim board and is a crucial step in the process of establishing the TNPA as a subsidiary of Transnet.
An international terminal operator was selected to partner with Transnet at the Durban Pier 2 container terminal. This will crowd in private investment and management expertise to improve the performance of South Africa’s largest container terminal.
The Department of Home Affairs launched the Trusted Employer Scheme, which is a key recommendation of the work visa review. The scheme will allow major investors and large employers to follow a streamlined process with improved turnaround times.
A One Stop Shop was established for energy projects to accelerate private investment. The One Stop Shop will facilitate regulatory authorisations for energy projects, with the aim of establishing a single, fully electronic application process.

Looking long term

Looking at the overall achievements of Operation Vulindela over the past three years, Guma said government’s “legislative agenda has continued to make progress”.

“We’ve made some regulatory changes to allow private investment in electricity generation. We are currently tracking an energy pipeline of renewables that is up to 66GW at this stage. From an investment point of view, what we’ve tracked is a pipeline of over R200 billion worth of investments.”

Turning to telecommunications, Guma said the spectrum auction concluded last year has “resulted in an immediate boost of R14 billion to the fiscus” also resulted increased download and “increased investments into the sector”.

Guma said a comprehensive review of the work visa system and the revised immigration regulations has also been completed.

Other achievements since the launch of Operation Vulindela are:

The National Rail Policy adopted to guide the modernisation and reform of the rail sector, including third-party access to the network
Backlog of water use licenses has been cleared and license application system re-engineered, unlocking billions of Rands in investment
Private sector participation introduced in container terminals, to crowd in investment and improve the efficiency of port operations
eVisa system expanded to 34 countries, with almost all countries now covered by either a visa waiver or eVisa
Legislative reforms underway to create a transport economic regulator, reform the electricity sector, and establish a National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency

The full progress report can be accessed at https://www.stateofthenation.gov.za/operation-vulindlela - SAnews.gov.za

NeoB
Mon, 12/11/2023 - 12:38

366 views

10 December 2023

Ramokgopa urges public to engage with IRP 2023

Location: News

Ramokgopa urges public to engage with IRP 2023

Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has urged the public to engage with the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2023, which has been approved by Cabinet.

IRP 2023 is now set to be published by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy.

The Minister urged communities, stakeholders and interest groups to engage with the IRP 2023 and send their submissions, as part of determining the country’s “energy future”.

“This will underpin our responses in relation to how we are going to address the energy situation in the country.

“What is significant about this is that… the IRP 2023 computes two horizons [including up to 2030]. In the context of the energy crisis, the interventions [in this IRP] will help us in the short-term to ensure that we ameliorate the degree of the energy deficit that we are experiencing now.

“The IRP also computes horizon number two, which is from 2030 to 2050, and in the most bold fashion, it states what are these new sources of energy and essentially, it [deals with] our ability to be able to exploit our renewable energy endowment, and their linkages to the availability of transmission,” Ramokgopa said at the Energy Action Plan briefing on Sunday.

The Minister reiterated the commitment to resolve load shedding, and have a secure energy supply to protect the South African economy and ensure growth and development.

The IRP is a plan aimed at estimating South Africa's electricity demand. It takes into account how the demand for electricity will be met and the expense of such a demand. The plan refers to electricity generation and expansion programmes.

In formulating the National Development Plan, the Department of Energy gazetted the Integrated Resource Plan 2010-2030 (IRP 2010) in March 2011. This forecasted the energy demand for the 20-year period.

In October 2019, IRP 2019 was gazetted. This updates the energy forecast from 2019 to the year 2030.

The IRP is a “living document” that gets revised and updated.

Performance of power plants

The Minister announced that 980 megawatts (MW) at Koeberg Unit 2 will be taken out on Monday. Unit 1 one came back last month after significant delays. Koeberg is the only nuclear power station on the continent, with each of the two units producing 980 megawatts, according to the Minister.

"It's very significant to the energy mix, and as part of our intention to extend its life by 20 years, we took out Unit 1 to comply with the requirements of the regulator (NERSA)... Now we are taking out Unit 2 for the same purpose," he said, noting that Unit 1 is almost at full load.

With regards to the performance of the grid over the past week, Ramokgopa said the unplanned capacity loss factor (UCLF) and partial load losses (the rate at which units are failing and not performing at optimal capacity) combined has been averaging just above 14 000MW.

“To put it into context, we have reached highs of 17 000MW of these losses. If we were to use May as our baseline, we were losing about 17 369MW. Essentially, we are better off by about 3 000MW, and that’s what we’ve been averaging.

“In fact, it looks even healthier if you were to take Saturday and today, where we’re at about 12 000MW. We have been able to introduce an improvement of about 5 000MW - 6 000MW… if you were to use the baseline of May,” the Minister said.

On why Stage 3 and 4 load shedding continues despite the improvement outlined by the Minister, he said the aim was to use the summer period to ramp up planned maintenance.

“We are averaging just close to 7 000MW. To put it into context, during the winter period, we were averaging about 2 500MW of planned maintenance. If you look at the period around May, it was 3 100MW. The team has taken out, of their own volition, an additional 3 000MW, compared to what was the situation in May.

“We reached a high of about 8 000MW on 8 December. That means there was an additional 4 000MW that has been taken out… It is important that we are able to do maintenance. The more you postpone maintenance, it will catch up with you and you will experience rapid failures of units.”

The Minister said the status quo shows the “true health” of the system, without “necessarily the assistance of the open cycle gas turbines”. While these are engaged at certain peaks, Ramokgopa said they are not being used at the rates at which they have previously been.

The Minister said all stakeholders are working hard to stabilise power supply, especially throughout the festive season.

New Eskom CEO

On the appointment of Dan Marokane as the new Eskom Group CEO, Ramokgopa said leadership stability is key to the resolution of the energy crisis that is confronting the country.

“We are looking forward to the contribution of Mr Marokane, together with the totality of the executive committee of Eskom… to give additional impetus to the work that we are doing,” Ramokgopa said, highlighting that there will now be “certainty in the apex office” of the power utility.

The Minister thanked the Interim Group CEO, Calib Cassim, for his contribution. – SAnews.gov.za

GabiK
Sun, 12/10/2023 - 12:47

130 views

10 December 2023

Marokane re-joins Eskom as current chief executive

Location: News

Marokane re-joins Eskom as new chief executive

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has announced the appointment of Dan Marokane as the new Group Chief Executive of Eskom.

Marokane is a qualified Chemical Engineer, who has a MBA and is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years senior leadership experience, the Department of Public Enterprises said on Friday.

He is expected to join Eskom no later than 31 March 2024.

“The advertisement for the post attracted 409 applications. From this process, 12 prospects qualified to further steps in the selection process.

“[Marokane] has experience working in distressed organisations with visible and pressurized turnaround mandates. His recent assignment is at Tongaat-Hullet, where he stepped up to lead this financially distressed business when its Group Chief Executive resigned.

“Mr Marokane was a senior manager in Eskom from 2010 to 2015, holding various senior positions, including head of Group Capital in Eskom,” the department said.

Marokane was one of four senior managers suspended during the State capture period. He subsequently resigned and went into the private sector.

“Mandatory checks, which include criminal and credit checks, verification of identity, qualifications, directorships, and establishment of conflicts of interest were completed,” the department said.

The date of commencement will be announced once Marokane has concluded the handover process with his current employer.

“Mr Marokane thrives on challenges, has the drive to energetically tackle the challenges confronting Eskom and is also ethically grounded.

“The Board has been requested to constitute a professional, skilled and committed executive team that will collectively lead Eskom through a complex but exciting journey, including achieving energy security for our people and the economy, implementing the Eskom Just Energy Transition and concluding the restructuring of Eskom,” Gordhan said.

The Minister thanked the Board for conducting a competitive and transparent process for the appointment of the GCEO. – SAnews.gov.za

GabiK
Sun, 12/10/2023 - 09:47

232 views

8 December 2023

Metrorail shack dwellers moved, but to a space without toilets or water

Location: News

First families moved off Central Line railway tracks

6 December 2023

South Africa needs to spend an extra R535-billion a year to meet climate goals

Location: News

Climate investments need to jump from R131-million a year, Presidential Climate Commission says

6 December 2023

Requirements for environmental authorisation for renewable energy facility published

Location: News

Requirements for environmental authorisation for renewable energy facility published

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Barbara Creecy has published a notice on the amendment of certain requirements for an application for environmental authorisation for a renewable energy facility.

“The amendment is necessary to ensure that the full potential of the investment into electricity infrastructure can be realised,” the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said on Tuesday.

They were published under sections 24(5)(a), 24(5)(b)(i) and 44 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998), read with regulation 10(b) of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2014, as amended.

“The amendment requires that a proponent requests and obtains a consent letter from Eskom, or its successor, which confirms that the proposed layout of the facility will not unnecessarily obstruct access to the transmission or distribution infrastructure,” the department said.

The amendment was published in Government Gazette No. 49815, Notice No. 4143 on 04 December 2023.

A copy of the Government Gazette can be obtained at: https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/legislations/nema_ea.renewableenergyfacility_g49815gon4143.pdf

Any enquiries in connection with the notice can be directed to Dr D Fischer at the following email address: dfischer@dffe.gov.za. –SAnews.gov.za

nosihle
Wed, 12/06/2023 - 11:16

174 views

5 December 2023

Large fraction of Johannesburg without electricity since Saturday

Location: News

City Power predicts seven days to restore power after fire gutted Observatory substation

30 November 2023

Load shedding expected to ease into the weekend – Ramokogopa

Location: News

Load shedding expected to ease into the weekend - Ramokogopa

Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says he expects the intensity of load shedding to decrease going into the weekend.

The Minister was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the handover of the first consignment of energy equipment donated by the People’s Republic of China.

“We have been able to return the units much earlier; Kusile [power station] Unit 2 – in the midst of Stage 6 [load shedding] has come back to give us an additional 800MW. So once we stabilise the emergency reserves, I’m more than confident that going into the weekend, you’ll start seeing that the intensity of load shedding is going to go down,” he said.

Turning to the equipment donated by the Chinese government, the Minister said the equipment will help to “preserve life” as they will serve health facilities and schools, among others.

The consignment includes at least 450 gasoline generators which are expected to be distributed to public facilities such as clinics, schools and courts to use as backup energy sources.

“The Chinese were very enthusiastic and demonstrated levels of solidarity and comradery…that we have enjoyed over a period of time to say that as you resolve the bigger question of ending load shedding, you need some alternative supply or some solution to ensure that there is uninterrupted supply,” he said.

Meanwhile, Eskom has announced that it will lower the intensity of load shedding.

“Due to improved generation recovery and emergency reserves, Stage 3 load shedding was implemented at 10am today [Thursday] until 4pm.

“Thereafter, Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm until 8pm, followed by Stage 5 load shedding from 8pm until 5am on Friday,” the power utility said on X. – SAnews.gov.za

NeoB
Thu, 11/30/2023 - 14:53

343 views

30 November 2023

Preferred bidders for Battery Storage IPP bid window one announced

Location: News

Preferred bidders for Battery Storage IPP bid window one announced

The announcement of the four preferred bidders under the first bid window of the Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Procurement (BESIPPP) Programme marks a “significant development” in South Africa’s pursuit for energy security.

This is according to Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe’s written remarks at the announcement of the bidders on Thursday.

The preferred bidders were selected following an independent evaluation of the bid submissions process held between August and October this year.

“This first grid-scale energy storage programme in South Africa marks yet another important step towards the development of adequate electricity generation capacity to meet the country’s demand as set out in the Integrated Resource Plan (2019).

“The site-specific BESIPPPP Programme Bid Window 1 is designed to facilitate the procurement of up to 513 megawatts (MW) from facilities that will provide Capacity, Energy and Ancillary Services to Eskom at 5 specified sites, therefore only one Preferred Bidder is appointed per site,” Mantashe said.

The four preferred bidders, chosen from a cohort of at least 17, are:

Oasis Aggeneis
Mogobe BESS
Oasis Mookodi
Oasis Nieuwehoop

Mantashe said based on the department’s benchmarking exercise, a fifth bidder is expected to be appointed.

“The appointed preferred bidders have all made economic development commitments, notwithstanding the fact that such commitments were not mandatory for this BESIPPPP BW1 round. The preferred bidders have committed to creating a total of 992 job opportunities for South African citizens (measured in job years), during construction and operations.

“These projects will further spend over R3.2 billion on local content and over R4.4 billion on preferential procurement from BBBEE, black enterprises, QSEs and ESEs and on enterprise development initiatives over the life-time of the projects,” he said.

The Minister announced that project agreements have been signed with an additional bidder under the Risk Mitigation IPP Procurement Programme (RMIPPPP).

The 75MW project is expected to be located in De Aar, Northern Cape and offers a hybrid Solar PV and Battery Storage technology solution.

“The project anticipates reaching commercial close by mid-December 2023, and will start the 24-month construction phase in early 2024. The new generation capacity should therefore be online from early 2026.

“With the signing of this additional project, the total number of projects that have signed agreements under the RMIPPPP have now increased to 6 out of the eleven appointed Preferred bidders, which will add a total of 428MW of dispatchable capacity to the national grid,” he said.

Other IPP programmes

The Minister said that following the opening of several bid windows, at least 1384MW of new generating capacity – all at different stages of the process – have been secured.

“At least nine projects under Bid Window 5 of the Renewable Energy IPP Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) have now reached commercial close and are in construction. Three more projects are expected to reach commercial close in due course. In total, these projects will add a further 1 234 MW to the national grid from 2025 onwards.

“Moving to Bid Window 6, the 6 preferred bidders that were appointed in December 2022 are finalising all conditions precedent to reaching legal and commercial close. As previously communicated, the unavailability of grid capacity is a major constraint faced by all projects, resulting in delayed project closures.

“[The] department is in the process of finalising governance approvals for the release of the requests for the procurement of additional generation capacity under Bid Window 7 of the REIPPPP, Gas-to-Power, and Battery Storage.

“Further announcements in this regard will follow in the next two weeks,” the Minister added. – SAnews.gov.za

NeoB
Thu, 11/30/2023 - 15:13

419 views

27 November 2023

Stage 4 load shedding until Saturday

Location: News

Stage 4 load shedding until Saturday

Eskom has announced that it will implement Stage 4 load shedding from 2pm on Monday until 5am on Saturday morning.

On Sunday, the power utility had said it would implement Stage 3 load shedding in the afternoons followed by Stage 4 only in the evening.

“Due to the increasing demand combined with insufficient generating capacity and the need to manage the emergency reserves, Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented.

“Eskom will closely monitor the power system and communicate any changes to load shedding should it be required,” the power utility said in a statement.

By Monday afternoon, unplanned outages at power stations stood at some 15 424MW with a further 6280MW unavailable due to maintenance.

“In the last 24 hours, 500MW of generating capacity was taken offline whilst in the same period 600MW were returned to service. Approximately 1 300MW of generating capacity is anticipated to return to service by Tuesday evening.

“Eskom teams are working tirelessly to ensure that this additional generating units are returned to service as soon as possible,” the statement read.

The public is being urged to reduce electricity usage by switching off pool pumps and geysers between the hours of 5pm and 9pm.

“We would like to thank those who do heed the call to use electricity sparingly and efficiently from 17:00 to 21:00, as this lowers demand and helps in alleviating the pressure on the power system and contributes to lower stages of load shedding,” Eskom said. – SAnews.gov.za

NeoB
Mon, 11/27/2023 - 14:37

90 views

27 November 2023

The rapid lane to progress: public-private partnerships steer service delivery and social development goals in townships

Location: MyPR

November, Johannesburg: A community development organisation is calling for more public-private initiatives to improve basic service delivery that can lift communities out of poverty and restore dignity to the lives of the disenfranchised masses in South Africa (SA). The obligation to restore dignity and ensure equal access to basic services has been one of the …

27 November 2023

Eskom receives global credit ratings boost

Location: News

Eskom receives global credit ratings boost

Eskom has welcomed the decision by global ratings agency S&P Global to upgrade the power utility’s credit rating to ‘B’ from ‘CCC+’ with a stable outlook on the company’s senior secured and senior unsecured debt.

In addition, S&P Global also upgraded Eskom’s South Africa national scale rating to ‘zaBBB/zaA-2’ from ‘zaB/zaB’.

Eskom Acting Group Chief Executive Calib Cassim said: “Eskom welcomes the decision to upgrade the company’s credit rating by S&P Global. We continue to work with key stakeholders, particularly shareholder ministries as we implement our turnaround plan with a focus on key strategic objectives which include operations and financial recovery; people, culture and ethics, and legal separation of the business.”

The credit ratings agency cited government’s R254 billion debt relief package as key in the electricity company’s credit quality.

“In their rationale, the credit rating agency stated that the upgrade is due to their expectation that the South African government’s R254 billion financial support package, as part of the Eskom Debt Relief Act signed into law on 7 July 2023, will cover Eskom’s debt servicing and repayment obligations over the current and coming two financial years resulting in an improvement of the company’s credit quality.

“The stable outlook reflects S&P Global’s view that Eskom’s creditworthiness will continue to benefit from explicit and timely support from the South African Government, facilitating a strengthening of Eskom’s liquidity position and less risk of default as the debt relief agreement is implemented as stipulated,” Eskom said. – SAnews.gov.za

NeoB
Mon, 11/27/2023 - 10:02

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26 November 2023

Eskom reduces load shedding to Stage 4

Location: News

Eskom reduces load shedding to Stage 4

Eskom has seen a significant improvement in its generating capacity due the return of some generating units that were lost to service and the replenishment of emergency reserves at the pumped storage and Open Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) power stations.

Due to this improvement, Eskom announced the reduction in the implementation of Stage 6 to Stage 4 load shedding, starting on Sunday from 12pm until 5am on Monday.

“We have seen significant improvement from Friday when we implemented Stage 6 load shedding and on Saturday. We have made progress as a result of the intensification of load shedding. The [diesel] volumes at Ankerlig Power Station… are sitting at 55%, Acacia Power Station at 50% and Port Rex Power Station at about 55%.

“Once they are above these levels we should be able to manage them. In relation to our pump storage at Drakensberg [we have] additional generation hours, it is about 90 hours of generation, Ingula we have 58 hours of generation and at Palmiet 33 hours of generation,” Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said on Sunday.

He made these remarks while providing an update on electricity generation performance following the implementation of Stage 6 load shedding by Eskom.

The power utility said Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 5am until 4pm on Monday, followed by Stage 4 load shedding from 4pm until 5am on Tuesday.

This pattern of implementing Stage 3 load shedding in the morning and Stage 4 load shedding in the evening will be repeated daily until Thursday.

The Minister noted that Matla unit 2 has come back, Arnot unit 3 has come back and Tutuka has come back.

“Two things have happened that we promised. We have replenished our emergency reserves and some units have come back… Kriel unit 3 has come back. There’s an expectation that on Sunday… Medupi 5 [will come back] and [on Monday], we are planning to receive two units, Majuba and Lethabi,” Ramokgopa said.

He explained that on Friday there was a spike in the demand of above by 1 500 megawatts (MW).

“We had to do one of two things - either continue to deploy the emergency reserves, which we were depleting faster than anticipated, so that was not an option.

“The second option - intensify load shedding and that is the option that we followed because it is the most judicious option, with the challenges that were confronting us.

“The major problem started the week preceding the last one where we had significant amount of losses and this meant that we had to engage our emergency reserves,” the Minister said.

Eskom took a decision to engage the emergency reserves because we they were anticipating generating units to come back on time to provide relief.

“Indeed those units that were scheduled to come back were able to come back on time but then we had a significant amount of units that were failing. When we opened the week of 13 November, the emergency reserves were at levels below 70%.

“This includes our pump storage and the OCGT. As we continued to deploy them, there was significant reduction in those reserves, which is the dam levels and OCGT.

“There was a significant dip on 21 November and that significant dip in relation to the emergency reserves coincided with us losing units because we must compensate the megawatts that are lost as a result of the dip.

“Once it [the dip] reached critical levels, our primary preoccupation was to protect the grid and we pulled the emergency reserves back and as we pulled them back, it means that there were less megawatts available,” the Minister said.

He reiterated that if Eskom builds an additional buffer, it means that the country will be less prone to major fluctuations in the intensity of load shedding.

“…That’s why unit 2 and 5 at Kusile Power Station are important. We are targeting those to come back by the third week of December. Once you build that buffer, even if you had to have extraordinary events, there is some degree of buffer and therefore the rate at which we intensify load shedding might not be as severe as we have experienced over the last 30 hours or so,” the Minister said. – SAnews.gov.za

nosihle
Sun, 11/26/2023 - 11:32

226 views

24 November 2023

Eskom working on returning lost units back to service

Location: News

Eskom working on returning lost units back to service

With the implementation of Stage 6 load shedding, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has assured citizens that Eskom is working to ensure that generating units that have been lost are returned to service and that the emergency reserves are replenished.

Addressing a media briefing on Friday, the Minister said the implementation of Stage 6 load shedding is a significant setback but government remains confident in its ability to resolve the energy security challenge.

Stage 6 load shedding was implemented from 12pm today and is expected to end on Monday at 5am due to the loss of five generating units over the past 24 hours, the need to replenish emergency reserves and an increase in demand.

“We think that in the next two weeks, we will have an additional buffer. We are expecting Unit 2 of Kusile to come online by the end of this month and we expect Unit 5 at Kusile to come online by the third week of December,” Ramokgopa said.

He said Eskom is sitting at about 14 590 megawatts (MW) of unplanned capacity loss factor (UCLF) and the vacuum losses are about 807MW.

“If you put it together, we are talking about 15 300MW. That is not out of the norm if you look at [it in relation to] the winter plan. We had over committed our reserves for purposes of protecting the grid.

“We need to ensure that we continue to protect reserves so we are not going to engage them at a high intensity and as a result, you don’t have the benefit of the 4 600MW that you would ordinarily draw from our emergency reserves.

"By not engaging the reserves, it means that Eskom will be replenishing those reserves and we are going to draw from the grid.

“That’s why we need the additional capacity. That is why that capacity is not be made available to the average consumer. It is for Eskom to consume for purposes of replenishing the dam levels.

“As a result of engaging the emergency reserves, we are depleting them and they perform a very important function, which is the protecting of the grid. If things were to go bad, we will draw from the emergency reserves.

“At any given point, [you want] to be able to draw from the emergency reserves in instances of extreme occurrences, which we have not experienced and don’t anticipate to experience. We continue to work with the team at Eskom to ensure that we improve the situation,” the Minister said.

Eskom Group Executive: Generation, Bheki Nxumalo, said the demand increased on Friday and it is continuously above by 1 500MW.

“The low reserves caused for intensified stages of load shedding. The units that we have lost between Thursday and Friday include Duvha Unit 4, Majuba Unit 3 and Lethabo Unit 6,” Nxumalo said. – SAnews.gov.za

nosihle
Fri, 11/24/2023 - 16:57

201 views

23 November 2023

Enoch Mgijima Municipality works to honour Eskom debt arrangement

Location: News

Enoch Mgijima Municipality works to honour Eskom debt arrangement

Eskom has commended the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality’s efforts to honour its National Treasury Municipal Debt Relief Programme obligations.

The municipality, which is located in the Eastern Cape, is one of more than 60 municipalities that have applied for the debt relief arrangement, which is aimed at assisting the ailing municipalities to pay their electricity bills.

“After a long history of indebtedness, protracted court cases, and power interruption, Eskom is pleased with Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality’s current account payment.

“Through this monthly payment, Eskom believes that the municipality is demonstrating its commitment to the National Treasury Debt Relief Programme, which will enable the municipality’s Eskom debt to be written off over a three-year period,” Eskom said in a statement on Thursday.

By August this year, municipal Eskom debt had snowballed to an estimated R63 billion and the power utility said this is contributing to the financial health challenges it faces.

“Arrear municipal debt remains a significant challenge for Eskom due to continued escalation to unsustainable levels. This poses serious risks to Eskom’s long-term financial sustainability. It also contributes significantly to the liquidity challenges currently facing Eskom,” Eskom said.

Enoch Mgijima municipal manager, Ayakha Ntengenyane, said the municipality is committed to paying and maintaining its Eskom bulk current account.

“Since we are implementing the Financial Recovery Plan, we expect revenue to increase and this will enable the municipality to improve its performance. We are also cracking down on illegal electricity connections, which are a hindrance to reliable power supply. We are also working hard to generate adequate funding to sustain operations,” Ntengenyane said. – SAnews.gov.za

NeoB
Thu, 11/23/2023 - 10:16

285 views

22 November 2023

NPA determined to re-enrol Eskom corruption matter

Location: News

NPA determined to re-enrol Eskom corruption matter

The National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate (ID) says it is confident that the Eskom Kusile R2.2 billion tender matter related to former Eskom interim CEO Matšhela Koko will be re-enrolled as soon as outstanding aspects of the investigation are completed.

The case against Koko and some 18 other accused was struck off the roll in the Middelburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court because the court deemed there to be an undue delay in the completion of investigations.

It is alleged that at the height of state capture, Swiss company Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) was allegedly irregularly awarded a control and instrumentation contract at Eskom’s Kusile Power Station in 2015 after allegedly colluding with Eskom officials in exchange for kickbacks.

NPA ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka highlighted that the court’s decision “is not tantamount to an acquittal or withdrawal of the charges”.

“The ID will continue investigating the case in line with the original case strategy that it developed for this complex matter. The issues raised by the court have been noted.

“The delays were not anticipated at the time of the arrest of the accused; due to the complex nature of the case, the extent and the sheer volume, and the digital nature, of the evidence seized, in particular subsequent to the arrest and enrolment. Work on the compilation of the outstanding reports is ongoing. The ID will re-apply for the matter to be re-enrolled within a reasonable period of time, and as soon as the outstanding aspects of the investigation have been completed,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za

NeoB
Wed, 11/22/2023 - 10:30

503 views

22 November 2023

Load shedding ramped up to Stage 4

Location: News

Load shedding ramped up to Stage 4

Eskom has announced the implementation of Stage 4 load shedding until further notice.

In a short statement on social media site X, Eskom said: “Due to insufficient emergency reserves and generation capacity as a result of four units not returning to service as planned, Stage 4 load shedding was implemented this morning at 02:31am until further notice,” it said on Wednesday.

This as the power utility on Tuesday announced the implementation of Stage 2 load shedding from 9am to 4pm followed by Stage 3 load shedding from 4pm until 5am on Wednesday. This was to be followed by Stage 2 load shedding until 4pm. At the time, it said the pattern of implementing Stage 2 load shedding in the morning and Stage 3 load shedding in the evening would be repeated daily until further notice.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has encouraged workers at Lethabo Power Station to keep the station’s performance high.

The power station is Eskom’s second best performing station.

The Minister was visiting the Free Stat- based power station as part of a follow up of his initial visits to power stations.

“When units fail…just remember what that does to the South African economy and the poor. Remember what that does to the national fiscus and our ability to meet our promise to take care of the poor, ensure that people remain in employment and ensure that we are able to realise growth.

“I’ve come here… to say thank you. Let’s keep up the good work. There’s more that ought to be done,” he said.

The Minister explained government’s plans to augment generation capacity.

“We are working on new generation capacity. We can’t just solely rely on the Eskom fleet; we need additional generation capacity and here I’m talking of gas. We are working on gas – 3000MW – and we are also working on connecting the renewables, solar PV and wind.

“I have been assigned the responsibility of coming back to Cabinet with a financing model proposition on how we are going to expand and strengthen the grid,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za

NeoB
Wed, 11/22/2023 - 11:01

633 views

21 November 2023

The Liberalisation Of The Energy Sector And Climate Change

Location: Entertainment, MyPR

THE LIBERALISATION OF THE ENERGY SECTOR AND CLIMATE CHANGE Durban, South Africa – Since the President’s State of the Nation Address in 2022, significant steps have been taken by Government to liberalise the energy sector, loosen the hold which Eskom has on the generation and distribution of electricity and move from a monopolistic electricity supply …

19 November 2023

Eskom ramping up load shedding to replenish emergency reserves

Location: News

Eskom ramping up load shedding to replenish emergency reserves

Electricity Minister, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said on Sunday that Eskom was ramping up power cuts to replenish emergency reserves.

This comes as the state-owned power entity announced it was implementing Stage 3 load shedding from 9:00 this morning until 5:00 on Monday to replenish emergency reserves in preparation for the week ahead.

This is because Eskom lost a “cluster” of units from different power stations across the country, amounting to over 2 700 megawatts (MW), shy of three stages of load shedding.

“And if we had not experienced that, of course, you would not be seeing the kind of intensity of load shedding that we are experiencing,” the Minister explained.

Meanwhile, he said that the return of Units 1 and 3 in Kusile Power Station has been significant.

“As big units return, when you see the kind of cluster of failures that we’ve seen, the intensity of load shedding is not as acute. Of course, we’re on Stage 3 [load shedding] and that’s the highest that we have experienced. But what Unit 1 and 3 have done is to create an additional buffer and why it’s important that Unit 2 and 5 also return.”

On the other hand, he said this kind of failure of generating units has resulted in the continued burning of diesel and open-cycle gas turbines (OGGT) running on stream.

“That’s something that we haven’t done and avoided over the past four or five weeks before the last two weeks. We’ve been burning very little diesel and preserved that and ensured that we rely on the ability of the units on their own to give us the megawatts that are required.

“That’s why the media statement that went out by Eskom today is to say to say we want to build that emergency reserve because we have depleted them.”

Eskom, according to Ramokgopa, did not anticipate the extent of the current breakdown.

“Failure will be given in any engineering component. But I think what has been the major issue here is the clustering of this failure.”

However, he was optimistic that the five units would return by tonight. This includes units from Duvha, Majuba and Lethabo power stations.

“This messaging is a function of our ability to keep to these timelines. And of course, you can see that some of them were already delayed but we are confident about their ability to bring these units back on stream to ensure that we’re able to address this situation.”

Unit 1 at Koeberg Power Station was successfully synchronised to the grid on Saturday, after almost a year.

Eskom said this was the longest outage in the history of the power station during which the original three steam generators were successfully replaced by three new steam generators.

Once Unit 1 is considered stable, Unit 2 will be taken offline to have its steam generators replaced.

“The expectation is that it must return back to service on time. But if you had to draw from the experiences of Unit 1, it doesn't give us that degree of confidence and that's why there's that discussion that we have with the management.

“We expect the second synchronisation to happen on the 2nd and 3rd of December. And then that's when I'm sure that we will be able to take out Unit 2 for the kind of attention that is required so that we're able to meet the licensing requirements.”

Meanwhile, he told the media that government was moving with speed in policy issues and giving certainty to what will constitute South Africa’s energy mix, transmission intervention and additional generation capacity expected end of December this year. – SAnews.gov.za

Gabisile
Sun, 11/19/2023 - 11:58

275 views

17 November 2023

Spoekiesdorp families haunted by past evictions and uncertain future

Location: News

“Many of us are here because we were evicted from farms. We were dumped here”