Big problems at Eskom

Lupus said:
Yup the same ash dam that was supposed to be fixed last year already, you know while it was down for that exact reason. Then we've got Kendal that's 1/3rd down due to emissions, they were told they could do one unit at a time, nah Eskom was like hold my beer.
Then Koeberg needing maintenance sooner, but this will be until June as they are installing the new steam turbines. Then Kusile which was supposed to have 2 units up and running by now, still failing to generate much out of it.
Medupi having more issues again.
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My company is doing some work at Camden (not me) but that ash dam is a farce and a known one for a few years now. Even in SA these days it could be stabilised or extended to be 100% operational within a year. All it needs is leadership, informed decision making and knowledge, none of which seems to exist at Camden, maybe even in Eskom. What there seems to be is ANC cadre tenderpreneuring, ANC style BEE which is crippling and ANC AA which leads to incompetence. Eish.
 
Oldfut said:
My company is doing some work at Camden (not me) but that ash dam is a farce and a known one for a few years now. Even in SA these days it could be stabilised or extended to be 100% operational within a year. All it needs is leadership, informed decision making and knowledge, none of which seems to exist at Camden, maybe even in Eskom. What there seems to be is ANC cadre tenderpreneuring, ANC style BEE which is crippling and ANC AA which leads to incompetence. Eish.
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It was supposed to be fixed last year already. But yeah once again as you said it's a farce.
 
So the SA Gov is going to blame Escom for LS and the deaths that follow during the LD? Aren't they blaming liquor already on the Health system who can't cope? Unreal, you can't make up this S88T.
 
Rickster said:
Just build the 2nd nuclear powerplant and be done with it, am tired of this kuk.
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Can you imagine this country being responsible for another nuclear power plant. Not to mention the decades it would take to build. We have enough solar projects getting ready to roll.
 
tjma2001 said:
Can you imagine this country being responsible for another nuclear power plant. Not to mention the decades it would take to build. We have enough solar projects getting ready to roll.
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Yeah and solar isn't going to help much at demand times, why don't people get this? Go look at the figures on Eskoms own data portal, we have 4Gw of installed renewables, at peak we may have 1.5Gw from wind on a good day.
Renewables aren't dispatchable and aren't something to build a baseload off of, they are good for supplementing the grid where possible.
 
Lupus said:
Yeah and solar isn't going to help much at demand times, why don't people get this? Go look at the figures on Eskoms own data portal, we have 4Gw of installed renewables, at peak we may have 1.5Gw from wind on a good day.
Renewables aren't dispatchable and aren't something to build a baseload off of, they are good for supplementing the grid where possible.
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We have just had load shedding all day and night and on weekends. The PEAK is not the problem.
Use the peaker plants for the peak, rather than to keep the lights on (literally).
 
richjdavies said:
We have just had load shedding all day and night and on weekends. The PEAK is not the problem.
Use the peaker plants for the peak, rather than to keep the lights on (literally).
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That's generally how it's done, unless there isn't enough PV during the day as well, which also happens go take a look at the Eskom data portal, the days there is little PV there are a few more OCTGs used and so on. We have 4Gw of renewables and the most I've seen it was under 3Gw and that was awhile go, most of the time if wind is high PV is around 1Gw or lower and so on it's weird.
 
Lupus said:
Yeah and solar isn't going to help much at demand times, why don't people get this? Go look at the figures on Eskoms own data portal, we have 4Gw of installed renewables, at peak we may have 1.5Gw from wind on a good day.
Renewables aren't dispatchable and aren't something to build a baseload off of, they are good for supplementing the grid where possible.
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There is a lot of tech that went into mechanical storage lately to counter this problem. From flywheels to Weights. Last one would work great in SA with all our dead mine shafts.

Problem is no-one wanna invest in SA. EU literally refusing cause of BEE. So unless some ANC crony can get some backhand deal going we not going in that direction anytime soon.
 
Lupus said:
That's generally how it's done, unless there isn't enough PV during the day as well, which also happens go take a look at the Eskom data portal, the days there is little PV there are a few more OCTGs used and so on. We have 4Gw of renewables and the most I've seen it was under 3Gw and that was awhile go, most of the time if wind is high PV is around 1Gw or lower and so on it's weird.
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Don't get hung up on the GW... Its the GWh that matter. Imagine there was 3 times that amount of Solar, we probably wouldnt have load shedding right now.

And now imagine that Solar was already installed on farms, malls etc (because some solar guy massively oversold!), but wasnt allowed to feedback into the grid so was sitting their idling whilst the country load shed... No need to imagine :)
 
Don't say. Me think rest of country also. Also mention ANC cadres, looters call them what you like.
 
Lupus said:
Yeah and solar isn't going to help much at demand times, why don't people get this? Go look at the figures on Eskoms own data portal, we have 4Gw of installed renewables, at peak we may have 1.5Gw from wind on a good day.
Renewables aren't dispatchable and aren't something to build a baseload off of, they are good for supplementing the grid where possible.
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Offer a decent feed in tariff for residential and others especially for peak times and watch those peak numbers tumble imho.
 
It doesn't even need to be a decent tariff. Just let them do it - they might do it "for the country"...
Western Cape municipal connections are largely allowed to do so (albeit at low feedback tariffs normally less than R0.80 feedback and R2.00 usage, I know!).

I personally oversee about 10 MW of supply across malls, homes, offices - most of which is in effect switched off most of Saturday and Sunday - as it is NOT allowed to feedback into the grid. And yet, we have load shedding at those times.

Also have many GW of battery storage sitting around idling most of the time too. The private sector HAS bought into this, but they aren't allowed to help the country out with it! Eskom connections CANNOT feed back into the grid.
 
richjdavies said:
It doesn't even need to be a decent tariff. Just let them do it - they might do it "for the country"...
Western Cape municipal connections are largely allowed to do so (albeit at low feedback tariffs normally less than R0.80 feedback and R2.00 usage, I know!).

I personally oversee about 10 MW of supply across malls, homes, offices - most of which is in effect switched off most of Saturday and Sunday - as it is NOT allowed to feedback into the grid. And yet, we have load shedding at those times.

Also have many GW of battery storage sitting around idling most of the time too. The private sector HAS bought into this, but they aren't allowed to help the country out with it! Eskom connections CANNOT feed back into the grid.
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Are you allowed to feed in more than you consume?
 
PS: seen as I googled it... thought I'd just fill others in.
Pumped Storage in SA:
Ingula = 21,000 MWh or 15.8 generating hours at 1300MW
Drackensberg = 27600 MWh or 27.6 hours at 1000MW
Plamiet = 10000 MWh or 25 hours at 400MW (although press seems to think 1000?)
= 2700MW or around 10% of the average demand over the week

So they could easily be used to store excess solar during the day if it came to that. They were designed to pump overnight leaving on the nuclear and big coal plants. But no reason why it can't be used in the day time.

(there's also Steenbras, but that's owned by City of Cape Town much smaller at 180MW)
 
wingnut771 said:
Are you allowed to feed in more than you consume?
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Depends what you mean...
If you mean instantaneously -- that may be considered 'feed in' but not 'feed back'... ie. if you are using 10kW at home and generating 10kW of Solar... then you are 'feeding in' but not feeding back... it's the same as just using 0kW!

Feeding back over a month - i.e. using in the evening and feedback back in the day, that is possible in many municipalities, but not on Eskom. If you use 500 kWh from the grid and feedback 500kWh, your bill will not be R0 though, as I said you'll pay say R2 for usage and be paid only say, R0.50 for feedback. So your bill would still be R750!

Some municipalities also limit this so they won't CREDIT you back more than consume. I'd say that's a secondary financial only issue though, you still do it... you just might not be paid for it. You're connected anyway, so it's really no skin off your nose! Would you really set something to switch off your panels, because it's mid December and you've account has gone into Credit.

The point I'm trying to make is that people ALREADY have massive solar installations - with spare capacity, but it is NOT fed back to the grid. You don't need to "make it attractive" as they've already invested, you just need to make it possible. Right now these panels are basically idling on Sundays.
 
richjdavies said:
Depends what you mean...
If you mean instantaneously -- that may be considered 'feed in' but not 'feed back'... ie. if you are using 10kW at home and generating 10kW of Solar... then you are 'feeding in' but not feeding back... it's the same as just using 0kW!

Feeding back over a month - i.e. using in the evening and feedback back in the day, that is possible in many municipalities, but not on Eskom. If you use 500 kWh from the grid and feedback 500kWh, your bill will not be R0 though, as I said you'll pay say R2 for usage and be paid only say, R0.50 for feedback. So your bill would still be R750!

Some municipalities also limit this so they won't CREDIT you back more than consume. I'd say that's a secondary financial only issue though, you still do it... you just might not be paid for it. You're connected anyway, so it's really no skin off your nose! Would you really set something to switch off your panels, because it's mid December and you've account has gone into Credit.

The point I'm trying to make is that people ALREADY have massive solar installations - with spare capacity, but it is NOT fed back to the grid. You don't need to "make it attractive" as they've already invested, you just need to make it possible. Right now these panels are basically idling on Sundays.
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I mean having your meter reading less than the month before. That's a big no no as far as I'm aware. So, it's a double shot in the foot. Low tariffs and stupid rules.

I would like to earn a living helping the country. I don't want a R0 bill.
 
wingnut771 said:
I mean having your meter reading less than the month before. That's a big no no as far as I'm aware. So, it's a double shot in the foot. Low tariffs and stupid rules.

I would like to earn a living helping the country. I don't want a R0 bill.
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Thats not the way it works. They have to replace your meter with one that can tell the amount forward/reverse and store it in different registers.
 
richjdavies said:
...? Funny definition of a charity that one.

Getting paid for taking away your excess stuff. Sounds like water works to me.
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How much is the meter and line charges? How many units do you have to put in at 10c-80c a unit to offset the cost of the line. It's a joke at the moment.
 
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