How do we fix Eskom?

Kevin Lancaster

Kevin Lancaster

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How do we fix Eskom?

A judicial commission of inquiry needs to be established to find out what has gone wrong at Eskom and how to fix it, the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry said on Wednesday
 
No need of inquiry, just appoint competed Exco and Board, no interference from politicians and let the Exco run the company and Board play effective oversight.
 
All the guys who dropped ESKOM and us into this **** is now simply leaving the utility and joining IPP.

Who better to head up the competition than the people who know ESKOM's weaknesses.
 
Dlamaqhinga said:
No need of inquiry, just appoint competed Exco and Board, no interference from politicians and let the Exco run the company and Board play effective oversight.
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NERSA should also force through the legislation required for IPP's to contribute to the grid.
Then Eskom will have some competition and be forced to set reasonable tariffs.
 
The political influence is a massive problem. For more reasons than I am allowed to disclose.

Paul_S said:
NERSA should also force through the legislation required for IPP's to contribute to the grid.
Then Eskom will have some competition and be forced to set reasonable tariffs.
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Two problems.

1) They tried competition. The profit margin isn't enough to be able to provide a competitive tariff.
2) Reasonable tariffs? Maybe you should take a look at the cost price for electricity, and the margin they put on it. It's already lower than it should be.
 
froot said:
Two problems.

1) They tried competition. The profit margin isn't enough to be able to provide a competitive tariff.
2) Reasonable tariffs? Maybe you should take a look at the cost price for electricity, and the margin they put on it. It's already lower than it should be.
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Let the free market decide what the tariffs should be.
The fact that private companies are building solar PV plants in South Africa is proof that it's economically viable.
The problem is that you probably have to be in the back pockets of the ANC to get the deal.

Scatec Solar was one of 28 independent power producers that signed contracts with the government late last year, in the first round of a programme that will see an initial 1 400 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy being added to South Africa's energy mix, while bringing an estimated R47-billion in new investment into the country.
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What we need is a policy to allow any small man on the street to become an IPP and be able to contribute to the grid (with the right equipment), not some special deal that has to be made with the government or local municipality.
 
Paul_S said:
NERSA should also force through the legislation required for IPP's to contribute to the grid.
Then Eskom will have some competition and be forced to set reasonable tariffs.
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Biggest problem they're facing now is that their transmission and distribution infrastructure cannot handle the upstream power. This is a huge issue in the EC. Too many windfarms in too small an area. It's all good and well to provide power to the area, but the windfarms are generating surplus power that need to be evacuated back up the grid or face deemed energy charge penalties.

The big problem is that much of the area is farmlands and it takes up to 3 years to get Environmental Impact Assessments done and approved to secure servitudes to build the lines...its quite a complex story because the IPP's have to sort that out, but only up to the point of the closest Eskom line, regardless of how old that line is or if its big enough to handle the influx of power. It's then Eskom's baby to upgrade that line at their own cost. A little unfair given the 20yr planning that never accounted for what is effectively a feeder line to all of a sardine act as a radial with upstream. I won't be surprised if there are more localised failures due to these lines taking strain.

How much these charges are and what amount of power is being generated cannot be disclosed.
 
Paul_S said:
What we need is a policy to allow any small man on the street to become an IPP and be able to contribute to the grid (with the right equipment), not some special deal that has to be made with the government or local municipality.
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That's exactly what I (and many others) have been trumpeting for some time. It adds important diversity, releases major new access to financing and helps raise awareness of alternatives, whilst minimising the impact on the distribution bottlenecks.
 
Paul_S said:
Let the free market decide what the tariffs should be.
The fact that private companies are building solar PV plants in South Africa is proof that it's economically viable.
...
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I am no specialist on the process, but as I see it, once gov./Eskom were committed to the process, they could not renege. They therefore got competitive bids (R/kWh), but even the cheapest rates might not have been feasible if compared against coal or nuclear.

Voicy said:
Biggest problem they're facing now is that their transmission and distribution infrastructure cannot handle the upstream power. This is a huge issue in the EC. Too many windfarms in too small an area. It's all good and well to provide power to the area, but the windfarms are generating surplus power that need to be evacuated back up the grid or face deemed energy charge penalties.

The big problem is that much of the area is farmlands and it takes up to 3 years to get Environmental Impact Assessments done and approved ...
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Yes, but the windfarm developers faced the same regulations. If Eskom started on time, they could have had all approvals in place and completed the network upgrades in parallel with the farms.
 
Some hard-assed management from Europe or Israel should be hired to turn Eskom around. We can't rely on Lynne Brown to do anything concrete, she does not have brains and will-power
 
There was some German boffin up here in Nam a few months ago, that was trying to stress the point that due there being long distances involved in transporting electricity from source to the consumer, that the individual municipalities should be looking at setting up generation plants on the outskirts of their towns or cities using solar or wind to run their own towns, manage their own needs and not rely apon a national grid.

I think under the right conditions, certain municipalities, especially those in the countryside should be setting up their own solar array plants on a neighouring farm to light up their town......
 
Skerminkel said:
I am no specialist on the process, but as I see it, once gov./Eskom were committed to the process, they could not renege. They therefore got competitive bids (R/kWh), but even the cheapest rates might not have been feasible if compared against coal or nuclear.



Yes, but the windfarm developers faced the same regulations. If Eskom started on time, they could have had all approvals in place and completed the network upgrades in parallel with the farms.
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I partially agree, but the problem is two-fold.

1) Eskom processes, although dictated by their 22-month turnaround from approval to commissioning on any project, their inter-departmental processes is clogged with red tape in the form of KPI's. No department will help another if they don't get measured on it. Effectively giving each other the finger when help is required.

2) The Department of Energy had issued bidding rounds for IPPs. So Eskom reacted where they could, then halfway through, the DoE approves more and more IPPs willy nilly...placing further strain on Eskom's already in-the-pipeline designs, resetting the whole thing. As much as we all love to hate Eskom, this is kind of a dick move and not an easy one for Eskom to solve. How do you build more and bigger lines if you don't have a servitude or funds to do so? Localising IPPs would be the best option.

(No I don't work for Eskom, but reading published magz like Watts On and such will reveal all this info)

If I was in charge of Eskom, my first move would be to breach contract with the giant Smelters who signed long leases at 1980s power fixed rates. This will cause a huuuge legal issue, but it would be with 1 sector and would relieve pressure on the entire grid and economy. Sort of like consolidating debt. Then you focus all your energy and lawyers at tackling that issue while the country has power...also, switch off power to Zim and Moz.
 
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