Pravin Gordhan and Eskom shed light on grim state of power utility

Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, together with the chairperson of the Eskom board, Jabu Mabuza, on Tuesday, held a media briefing on the current state of the embattled power utility.

Load shedding schedule for Tuesday, 19 March

For Tuesday, the power utility has kept the load shedding schedule at stage 4, allowing for up to 4 000MW to be rotationally relieved from the power grid.

Read – “Load shedding will be eradicated in couple of weeks” – says Fikile Mbalula

This comes after the president, Cyril Ramaphosa, deployed the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to Mozambique to not only assist with the aftermath of Cyclone Idai but also to repair the pylons that were destroyed.

The current state of Eskom

This, Ramaphosa revealed, was the chief cause of the urgent implementation of load shedding.

The damage to the transmission lines is not the only reason why we have, for a large portion of the week, since Friday, 15 March, experienced stage 4 rotational power cuts.

Read – Experts predict a bleak winter of load shedding ahead

The power utility’s infrastructure is in shambles. Eskom revealed that it struggled to maintain the high demand for electricity because of repair work that is currently being done to boiler tubes.

This has forced an estimated eight power generation units to shut down operations.

Moreover, due to the critical shortage of coal reserves, the power utility has been forced to use the more expensive alternative — diesel.

The recent arrival of imported diesel has been reserved to power up gas turbines. These will act in the case where there are plant breakdowns and offer further relief to the power grid.

Read – Pravin Gordhan blasts Eskom for “unacceptable” load shedding crisis

Pravin Gordhan comments on Eskom

Gordhan, who was very critical of the slump the power utility fell into, assured South Africans that the government was doing all that it could to resolve issues with power supply.

He noted that the power utility would do better in communicating daily load shedding updates, as it had been failing to do so.

This is what we know about the current situation at Eskom, according to the Minister of Public Enterprises and Bernard Makgoro, Eskom’s system operator — the guy we would all love to hate.

Read – Why Tom Moyane is pushing for treason charges against Gordhan

Power availability

Makgoro revealed that, currently, South Africa has an estimated 48 000MW stored in its power grid to supplement the demand for electricity.

The systems operator’s critical duty is to ensure that the supply ability of Eskom is not completely overwhelmed by demand. His role, essentially, is to balance supply and demand for energy in real time.

Because there is difficulty in generating power, drastic measures have been taken to prevent the system from an entire collapse. Makgoro also revealed that the power utility also receives 3 000 MW from gas turbines (2 000 owned by Eskom, 1 000 owned by independent power producers).

State of power stations

The systems operator further revealed that none of the power utility’s power stations are operating at full capacity.

He further explained that at any given time, some of the units would either be shut down due to failure or service maintenance.

Read – ANC forced to apologise to Gordhan following Eskom comments

State of Eskom’s boilers

One of the factors that hinder Eskom’s ability to generate energy lies in the source — its ability to create steam for the gas turbines which, in turn, generate power.

Leakages in the boiler tubes have made it a nightmare to generate power at the capacity that Eskom needs to meet the demand for electricity.

Impact of corruption

Gordhan, noting that this was the elephant in the room, admitted that corruption had its role in the destruction of the power utility.

Treasury and good skills

He conceded that, as we have constantly heard at the Zondo commission, corruption affected the role of treasury at Eskom.

He also pointed at the fact that corruption cost the power utility in the skills sector. People with the needed qualifications and expertise were forced to leave and work elsewhere in the world.

Read – Details of Pravin Gordhan’s crunch talks with Eskom revealed

Contaminated coal supply chain

One of the more critical impacts of corruption laid in the contamination of the coal supply chain sector of the business, Gordhan revealed.

He challenged the public to look deeper into the Tegeta scandal and the involvement of the Gupta family.

He also pointed to the transportation of coal and implied that there were holes in this process too, which had an impact on the system on a grander scale.

Leakages in general procurement system

Gordhan revealed that, up until now, they have found evidence that suggests that Eskom employees, for the longest time, have had their hands in the power utility’s general procurement system.

He confirmed that they were aware of many companies that were started by employees who, in turn, list themselves as service providers of the power utility.

Read – Gordhan slams Julius Malema for “hate speech”

This would mean that, above their exorbitant salaries, the utility’s employees, which he refused to name, have been siphoning money under the noses of the board for some time now.

Although these issues are being addressed, Gordhan conceded that it was going to take time. The Minister of Public Enterprises confirmed that the team would return in 14 days with an update on the energy crisis.