Electricity crisis isn't going anywhere: expert

[QuintonB]

Expect electricity problems for years: expert

A South African electricity expert says that we should prepare themselves for a “torrid few years”

 

[noswal]

A South African electricity expert says that we should prepare themselves for a “torrid few years”

ourselves, not themselves

 

[MKFrost]

A bit obvious though as no 'new' sources for electricity is being added while I guess the demand will slowly creep up even with the saving efforts in place.

The expert says that Eskom must take responsibility but I differ on this. Government should take the full blame of this crisis, after all, Eskom is a state utility and is thus being run and managed by them.

 

[w1z4rd]

I saw this comment on Facebook, thought it was worth a share:

I think we should stop saying load shedding and call it what it is: power failure - failure to keep the lights on; failure to maintain and invest in infrastructure; failure at building Medupi and Kusile...

I have a family member who does high voltage stuff for our municipality, his exact words are, "Eskom are falling apart".

 

[Kloofvreter]

Eskom, at 22:00 on 6 March 2014, announced a suspension of loadshedding, therefore Cape Town is currently not experiencing loadshedding.

From City of Cape Town's website.

 

[marine1]

That **** from Eskom Anrew Etsinger, tell me sir, you getting your bonus again this year?
You should all be in jail for crimes against the state and for public endangerment

 

[dj_jyno]

For those who can afford it, it's time for photovoltaics.

 

[Arthur]

The expert says that Eskom must take responsibility but I differ on this. Government should take the full blame of this crisis, after all, Eskom is a state utility and is thus being run and managed by them.

Totally agree.

Eskom did a brilliant job for decades whilst it operated as a self-owned (not state-owned) independent utility since 1923.

There's a history. The Electricity Act was amended after the ANC came to power, and Eskom was effectively nationalised. Most people do not realise that Eskom was NOT state-owned since 1923. My uncle, an electrical engineer, was head of both Generation and Transmission at the time, and he and others on the Eskom management board strenuously opposed the nationalisation, but of course lost.

Shortly after the nationalisation, the Mbeki government replaced the experienced management and moved many cadres into the upper levels of organisation. It then came up with various plans to "privatise" Eskom, really a way to shift large State assets to friends. None of them came to fruition and it was decided to keep Eskom ownership in State hands.

It's all been downhill since then.

It's not Eskom that's to blame - they were a fine organisation. It is Ceasar that seized ownership of Eskom and then ruined it by using it as a tool for cadre enrichment under the guise of BEE.

Broken Eskom is a consequence of a broken State. Eskom cannot be fixed unless and until we fix Caesar.

We should remind the media and journalists and every person we meet whenever the topic comes up that it is the State that is to blame, not Eskom. Especially in the election season we must make sure they don't get away with deflecting criticism back to Eskom.

 

[entrepr]

Agreed, and the vice-president further admitted in 2008 that the government had made a mistake a decade before by turning down Eskom's requests for funding to beef up generation. Government agrees it has been aware of a power capacity issue for 15 years or more. They tried to bring in Bobby Godsell to fix it and he obviously realised the issues were more about politics than technology and rapidly extricated himself.

 

[plugger123]

The only way out will be to privatise (competition) the provision of electricity. Any company can tender for a license and be paid for their contribution to the grid.

 

[Skerminkel]

@QuitonB, your heading is misleading. Etzinger said problems will continue. Yelland said Eskom are douchebags.

 

[Arthur]

Agreed, plugger123.

Some people say Eskom should be privatised, but that only privatises a monopoly, which is probably even worse than what we have. You rightly say that the real solution is to liberate the market for generation.

 

[ThinkCentre]

Once another polical party takes over from the ANC, we will get somewhere! And only then!

 

[phoneJunky]

A bit obvious though as no 'new' sources for electricity is being added while I guess the demand will slowly creep up even with the saving efforts in place.

The expert says that Eskom must take responsibility but I differ on this. Government should take the full blame of this crisis, after all, Eskom is a state utility and is thus being run and managed by them.

Well 1 power plant (Medupi) is being commisioned currently, hopefully it will be up and running by the end of the year with its first 700MW unit. Every 9 months a new one will be up and running. Also we have another one being built, but I don't know the status of that one.

 

[Arthur]

Once another polical party takes over from the ANC, we will get somewhere! And only then!

That's waay too open. Think the EFF will do better?

It's more than a change of government that's needed.

 

[phoneJunky]

Oh, I see the first unit of the Medupi plant won't be enough to cover our usage either. Bad times for us ahead.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Well 1 power plant (Medupi) is being commisioned currently, hopefully it will be up and running by the end of the year with its first 700MW unit. Every 9 months a new one will be up and running. Also we have another one being built, but I don't know the status of that one.

I will be surprised if the first unit comes on stream at its new 3rd deadline... and a new unit every 9 months after that? not a chance.

 

[Sonic2k]

Eskom did a brilliant job for decades whilst it operated as a self-owned (not state-owned) independent utility since 1923.

There's a history. The Electricity Act was amended after the ANC came to power, and Eskom was effectively nationalised. Most people do not realise that Eskom was NOT state-owned since 1923. My uncle, an electrical engineer, was head of both Generation and Transmission at the time, and he and others on the Eskom management board strenuously opposed the nationalisation, but of course lost.

Shortly after the nationalisation, the Mbeki government replaced the experienced management and moved many cadres into the upper levels of organisation. It then came up with various plans to "privatise" Eskom, really a way to shift large State assets to friends. None of them came to fruition and it was decided to keep Eskom ownership in State hands.

It's all been downhill since then.

It's not Eskom that's to blame - they were a fine organisation. It is Ceasar that seized ownership of Eskom and then ruined it by using it as a tool for cadre enrichment under the guise of BEE.

Broken Eskom is a consequence of a broken State. Eskom cannot be fixed unless and until we fix Caesar.

We should remind the media and journalists and every person we meet whenever the topic comes up that it is the State that is to blame, not Eskom. Especially in the election season we must make sure they don't get away with deflecting criticism back to Eskom.

The chances of fixing Caesar are slim at best. For this reason you are faced with two choices:
1) Emigrate
2) Generate your own power and tell Eishkom to go get stuffed.

People seem to think PV cells are all wonderful, they don't work in overcast weather. Charging a battery when it p*sses with rain the whole day is nearly impossible.

This, and the fact that it takes 4kW of power to heat 200l of water to bathe/shower in, is the current challenge I face.

 

[Shayd]

The chances of fixing Caesar are slim at best. For this reason you are faced with two choices:
1) Emigrate
2) Generate your own power and tell Eishkom to go get stuffed.

People seem to think PV cells are all wonderful, they don't work in overcast weather. Charging a battery when it p*sses with rain the whole day is nearly impossible.

This, and the fact that it takes 4kW of power to heat 200l of water to bathe/shower in, is the current challenge I face.

Using photovoltaic's to power a geyser is wildly inefficient. Consider a solar geyser.

 

[Arthur]

People seem to think PV cells are all wonderful, they don't work in overcast weather. Charging a battery when it p*sses with rain the whole day is nearly impossible.

This, and the fact that it takes 4kW of power to heat 200l of water to bathe/shower in, is the current challenge I face.

You are right about PV. But here in the sunny Karoo I get much more sun than cloud. I have a 12kW array, which on sunny summer days produces 65-72 kWh. I export to the grid, so help to keep you guys going (ok, very little ). On fully overcast summer days total PV energy generated drops to 17-25 kWh depending on thickness of cloud cover. My lowest ever was 19 July 2013, where total power generated was 11.2 kWh.

I fear you're right about the chances of fixing Caesar, which is why I got PV in the first place. But as long as the people blame Eskom and not the government, the chances of getting a better Caesar are even worse, because the current one escapes blame.