Remgro CEO says private electricity generation and distribution will make Eskom irrelevant

richjdavies said:
52MW, of what doing what. If that's instant, then there are plenty of solutions to smooth that a tad. If it's consistent then surely you have some huge backup systems already?

Plenty of industry that thinks they need X, but can actually use 0.2X if they properly invested and monitored waste. Not saying that it makes economic sense to, of course!
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52MW of compressors going brrrr

The backup system is a dual redundant eskom feed with contracts in place ensuring 99.9 uptime, UPS and a "small" critical power generator for safe shutdown if things go awry.
 
Not_original said:
My argument have so far been against in house generation.

I don't see a problem with private generation capabilities (utility power) coming online, except that it will need to have its own private distribution network to be paid reliably (from the top of my head I can't think of one municipal entity that's not massively indebted with Eskom). Which private companies would willingly tie into that network knowing it will likely not be paid.
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Private distribution. If we can build private fibre networks, we can build private electrical infrastructure.

Also, not everything needs to be centralised. You decentralize what you can and you provide infrastructure to service the rest which will be a much smaller footprint. Perhaps we'll see the days of carrying power across provinces come to an end except for the largest providers who will service a fraction of the demand.
 
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lkpat said:
Private distribution. If we can build private fibre networks, we can build private electrical infrastructure.
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The ANC will fight private distribution of electricity because it means that they can't buy votes with free electricity. No private company is going to install power lines to Eskom direct customers like Soweto on promises that they may be paid. So in the end only the paying municipalities and industries will receive new distribution networks while the poorer areas who refuse to pay will be sidelined and sit in the dark.
Yeah ... I don't see that ever becoming a reality.
 
Paul_S said:
The ANC will fight private distribution of electricity because it means that they can't buy votes with free electricity. No private company is going to install power lines to Eskom direct customers like Soweto on promises that they may be paid. So in the end only the paying municipalities and industries will receive new distribution networks while the poorer areas who refuse to pay will be sidelined and sit in the dark.
Yeah ... I don't see that ever becoming a reality.
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Of course the barrier is political, not physical... However, the decline of Eskom may trigger change however the government feels about it, just like we have private airlines and communications providers today.
 
Not_original said:
52MW of compressors going brrrr

The backup system is a dual redundant eskom feed with contracts in place ensuring 99.9 uptime, UPS and a "small" critical power generator for safe shutdown if things go awry.
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Cooling? That can always be done for less... Aerogel everywhere :)
 
“In the long term, electricity generation will be private. Eskom will merely distribute electricity with the utility being relegated to buying electricity from other entities and selling it on,” said Roodt.

He said Eskom is financially and operationally unsalvageable and will come to the same end as South African Airways (SAA).
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That assumes that eSkommel's transmission business is not spun off into a separate legal entity, and currently it seems like there is no movement on that front, but if that changes it will be the catalyst for many other positive changes.

If transmission is split off into a separate legal entity, eSkommel will consist of a bunch of failing power stations that no sane private entities would want to buy into (insane corrupt cadres probably would), eSkommel would increasingly (over time) face generation competition from private generation companies. The entity or entities that controls/control transmission, will likely resell electricity generated by private generation entities and eSkommel itself.

He added that the best way to handle Eskom is to treat it like a private sector company and place it into business rescue.
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Business rescue might work for private entities but it does not work where politicians are in control.
 
It's a sad state, but necessary. Eskom will go in the same way telkom has become a minor player in telecommunications
 
Municipalities, local business, households for solar generation, pump storage facility (any municipality which can use a height difference) can generate some hydro power, burning municipal waste, there is already one municipality fighting Eskom in court over their ability to generate power, South Africa can't afford to be without power, Eskom is dying a slow natural death. Think of all the parking around shopping centers for solar power. Remember municipalities make a large portion of their income by reselling Eskom power forward.
 
mylesillidge said:
Eskom will be irrelevant

Remgro CEO Jannie Durand says Eskom will become irrelevant in five years’ time with the private sector taking over electricity generation and distribution.

Durand spoke in an interview on 702 following the release of the company’s results for the six months ending 31 December 2022.
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Yes and my pocket. The cheapest is to understand fix the problem, or your suggestion will be contaminated as well if not already..
 
ConfusedR said:
The problem is, Eskom will keep on increasing their tariffs with the reason, "loss of revenue" and for the people that are not able to go off grid, this will be disastrous.
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For Eskom mainly because people will stop using them. Classic death spiral.
 
Paulsie said:
Lots of industry operate at night, making battery storage too costly to operate.
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Actually solar+wind+storage is now cheaper than traditional generation not to mention buying at a markup. This does not even factor in loss of business due to load shedding and reductions or having to regularly use backup power making it a no-brainer if you have the capital. Some large producers now have their own backup systems and fuel supply because it's cheaper than rebuilding something for millions that was shut down.
 
Swa said:
Actually solar+wind+storage is now cheaper than traditional generation not to mention buying at a markup. This does not even factor in loss of business due to load shedding and reductions or having to regularly use backup power making it a no-brainer if you have the capital. Some large producers now have their own backup systems and fuel supply because it's cheaper than rebuilding something for millions that was shut down.
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What storage?
 
richjdavies said:
52MW, of what doing what. If that's instant, then there are plenty of solutions to smooth that a tad. If it's consistent then surely you have some huge backup systems already?

Plenty of industry that thinks they need X, but can actually use 0.2X if they properly invested and monitored waste. Not saying that it makes economic sense to, of course!
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How tf are going to backup 52MW :laugh::ROFL::ROFL::ROFL:????
 
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