Eskom officially suspended load-shedding on Tuesday after a material reduction in the level of unplanned outages across its coal fleet, which fell to below 12 000 MW after having surged to about 16 000 MW on Monday. Planned outages of just over 5 000 MW were being implemented as of Tuesday afternoon.
South Africa’s problem is one of a “fossil fuel dependency crisis”, rather than an “energy crisis”, renewable power producer Scatec sub-Saharan Africa GM Jan Fourie posits. He says the country’s energy shortfalls, primarily driven by poor performance at an ageing fleet of coal-fired stations, are addressed in South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan of 2019, which commits to a shift away from coal, with a proposed 25% of South Africa’s total power to come from renewables by 2030.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed former South African Reserve Bank (SARB) deputy governor Daniel Mminele to head the newly established Presidential Climate Finance Task Team, which will lead South Africa’s efforts to mobilise concessional climate finance for its just energy transition. The appointment follows $8.5-billion offer made at COP26 by France, Germany, the UK and the US, as well as the European Union to support South Africa’s just transition to a low-carbon economy, with a specific focus on the electricity, electric vehicle and green hydrogen sectors.
South African Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has undertaken to decide whether to fire a community representative from the board of the National Nuclear Regulator by February 15, heading off a court appearance that had been scheduled for Tuesday. Mantashe on January 18 suspended Peter Becker, who in addition to serving on the nuclear regulator’s board is a spokesman for the Koeberg Alert Alliance, which is opposing plans that would see the life of Africa’s only atomic power plant extended by two decades. Mantashe later said that the regulator cannot have opponents of nuclear power on its board. He was sued by Becker.
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter reports that action will be taken against management at some power stations after an unexpectedly sharp deterioration in the performance of certain coal-fired generators on Monday, which precipitated the re-introduction of load-shedding only 24 hours after rotational cuts were initially suspended. Load-shedding was re-instated at 21:00 on Monday February 7 after full and partial unplanned breakdowns surged to nearly 16 000 MW at a time when more than 3 300 MW was down for planned outages.
State-owned power utility Eskom has confirmed that Stage 2 load-shedding will again be implemented from 21:00 on February 7 until 05:00 on February 8.
This is owing to units lost each at the Camden, Kusile, Duvha and Matla power stations, while the return of units at Majuba and Kusile power stations are experiencing delays.
With advances in storage technology, one of the biggest challenges to realising the full potential of renewables – the intermittent nature of the sources – can be mitigated, offering solar (PV) operators the chance to generate value and make solar power a mainstream option, says PV industry body the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association spokesperson Frank Spencer.
He will moderate an upcoming panel discussion at Solar Power Africa – a three-day conference to be held in Cape Town from February 16 to 18 – which includes expert insights from Davin Chown of Genesis Eco Energy and Kaloyan Dimov of SolarMD.
Power utility Eskom has announced that it will implement Stage 2 load-shedding from 21:00 on Monday night until 05:00 on Tuesday. “Further breakdowns could force Eskom to implement load-shedding sooner or to extend the load-shedding beyond Tuesday morning.” This is due to more breakdowns in generating units, with total breakdowns now amounting to more than 16 000 MW. “Since midnight we have lost the unit each at Camden, Kusile, Duvha and Matla power stations. Furthermore, the return of a unit at Kusile and two units at Majuba power stations are delayed,” Eskom said.
Electricity utility Eskom insists that it has a pipeline of generation, transmission and distribution projects that it could start implementing immediately should it secure access to “finance, human resources and expedited regulatory approvals”. During a recent interview, Andre de Ruyter told Engineering News that the lion’s share of the $8.5-billion in climate finance offered to South Africa should, once converted into transactions, be directed to Eskom, largely because the utility’s projects were at a more advanced stage than the alternatives and were “in some instances, shovel-ready and good to go”.
Zambezi river hydropower authority the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) reports that it is progressing with work on the Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP), which comprises projects to reshape the plunge pool and refurbish the spillway gates.
The KDRP has been ongoing since 2017 and is expected to be completed in 2025.
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