Eskom must come clean

ajax said:
Interesting! Seeing that prepaid lines are dirt cheap now, maybe I should get a couple and hook them up in parallel to up the voltage? Then a transformer to up it to 220V ?

If you dial *1# (I think) the phone calls itself back.
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:D:D:D:D
 
eskom cares even less than the goverment, i seriouisly considering buying a generator, convert it to run on gas and then build a device to make the gas for itself out of water (hydrogen) to run on. this might actually cost less in the long run?
 
stoke said:
Yea, I want to take a closer look at how much hydrogen can be produced from water and electricity and at what rate, but i doubt it's going to be a good rate.
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look at this...looks promissing [htp]http://jlnlabs.online.fr/bingofuel/html/bfr10.htm[/htp]
 
I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a moment...

At least the load shedding gives us a good opportunity to test all the county's backup and disaster management systems well ahead of 2010 :D
 
Tns said:
eskom cares even less than the goverment, i seriouisly considering buying a generator, convert it to run on gas and then build a device to make the gas for itself out of water (hydrogen) to run on. this might actually cost less in the long run?
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this would imply an over-unity machine.

aka perpetual motion
good luck, let me know when it is finished
 
There was a rumor floating around this afternoon than the South African Chamber of Business (SACOB) was looking at the possibility suing/seeking compensation from government for the damage and loss of business caused to it's members.

There was an interview on the radio this afternoon with a Johannesburg diamond broker, who lost a 10 million euro deal because the "load shedding" prevented him from concluding the deal.

How much more does government want before they roll over and fart and realise that there is actually a problem
 
I would like to know what Eskom's plans are to rectify the problem. ARE they actually doing anything about it? Or is 'Load Shedding' their long term solution?
 
Alchemist said:
There was a rumor floating around this afternoon than the South African Chamber of Business (SACOB) was looking at the possibility suing/seeking compensation from government for the damage and loss of business caused to it's members.
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I think that it is good that the government officials responsible be held accountable for their actions. That however will not solve the issue that we are currently dealing with - there is not a lot that will speed up the deployment of additional generating capacity.
 
kevinswan007 said:
I would like to know what Eskom's plans are to rectify the problem. ARE they actually doing anything about it? Or is 'Load Shedding' their long term solution?
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Yes they are doing something about it. There is currently a program running to de-mothball the 2 or 3 power stations that were taken indefinitely offline in the 90's when there was a capacity surplus. This is happening as we speak as I have friends working on the projects.

There are also apparently plans to build additional power stations - particularly a new nuclear one near CT. Can't comment on the progress of those but the normal time scale for a project like that is 10 years.
 
ambo said:
I think that it is good that the government officials responsible be held accountable for their actions. That however will not solve the issue that we are currently dealing with - there is not a lot that will speed up the deployment of additional generating capacity.
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No, it wouldn't solve the problem, but hopefully it would hit them enough where it hurts for the one solitary brain-cell they posses to break free from the cob-webs in their very hollow heads
 
ambo, how long would it take for them to de-mothball and recommission those two power plants?
 
Don't hold your breath. I understand that what equipment is left at these power plants is unusable. Essentially, just empty shells.
 
ambo said:
Yes they are doing something about it. There is currently a program running to de-mothball the 2 or 3 power stations that were taken indefinitely offline in the 90's when there was a capacity surplus. This is happening as we speak as I have friends working on the projects.
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So they have had 2 or 3 power stations as surplus since the 90's and it never occurred to them 5 years ago to perhaps bring them back online?!?

And will these power stations be enough to cope with the growing demand for power in the next 10 years?

Load shedding is not good for the country etc etc, I accept that there is a problem and that load shedding will help for now, but, what I cant accept is that I have not heard of any real solutions!
 
Alchemist said:
ambo, how long would it take for them to de-mothball and recommission those two power plants?
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I honestly don't know an exact figure but I know that they have been working on this for at least a year now.
Warped said:
Don't hold your breath. I understand that what equipment is left at these power plants is unusable. Essentially, just empty shells.
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The stations that were mothballed were the oldest and as a result least efficient units that Eskom had. Although the de-mothballing is cheaper and faster than building a power station from scratch there are large quantities of equipment that is having to be replaced.
kevinswan007 said:
So they have had 2 or 3 power stations as surplus since the 90's and it never occurred to them 5 years ago to perhaps bring them back online?!?
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You can't just flick a switch and turn them back on. Its many years work to recommission the units and the costs would have fallen under "building new capacity" on the budget sheet which we know that the government was preventing.
 
Gov and Eskom is falling behind faster and faster ... and I fear the day we hit the tipping point when all hell breaks loose in a flash (ok, sorry, you need power for a flash and there won't be any). Imagine for a moment one (or two) of the critical power stations goes completely bust? Guys and girls, this thing may be much bigger than anyone in power (without power) is willing to admit in public.
 
Trafeye said:
Gov and Eskom is falling behind faster and faster ... and I fear the day we hit the tipping point when all hell breaks loose in a flash (ok, sorry, you need power for a flash and there won't be any). Imagine for a moment one (or two) of the critical power stations goes completely bust? Guys and girls, this thing may be much bigger than anyone in power (without power) is willing to admit in public.
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Tipping point has been reached.
January 1st it started.
 
Generators use petrol/diesel ... of which the price goes up and up as the demand increases and the availability drops. Our little crisis here in the south of Africa must be good for a number of bank accounts up north.
 
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