Load-shedding may be back soon as Eskom runs out of coal

[ToxicBunny]

question for people, are industrial plants being load-shed now? are there still (worthy) exceptions, not zumas house ect...
I was at a industrial plant (steel mill) in Germiston yesterday, and they woudnt let me in due to them being loadshed, and everything was off.

Industrial plants have always been loadshed, or requested to lower their load on the grid when they can't shut down entirely.

 

[Gordon_R]

So no more loadshedding or wat?

Its like the mythical Chinese water torture, you never know when load shedding is going to strike next, and the suspense makes you crazy...

 

[BeerIsNotGood...]

Industrial plants have always been loadshed, or requested to lower their load on the grid when they can't shut down entirely.

Wtf?

 

[Gordon_R]

Eskom is still paying to Gupta owned companies for coal which is not being delivered: https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/companies/eskom-paid-more-than-r1bn-to-guptas-18274608

Eskom has paid a Gupta-owned mine nearly R1 billion this year for coal it has not received, despite the utility flagging that its coal supply was at record lows that has lead to blackouts.

Eskom paid R705 million to Optimum since March, because of contractual obligations largely engineered by former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane and axed-acting group chief executive Matshela Koko.

Eskom has maintained payments to Oakbay, despite its liquidity problems, charging that it was contractually obliged to do so.

Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said the utility paid R150 a ton to Optimum.

Phasiwe said the contract with Tegeta was ongoing binding, even though Oakbay was under business rescue.

“They are under business rescue and the law says there is nothing you can do in terms of penalties until the matter has been resolved,” Phasiwe said.

Energy analyst Ted Blom described the ongoing prepayment as bizarre.

“Tegeta is exporting as much coal as possible to generate cash to keep alive – and even that situation is not running optimally,” Blom said.

Optimum workers are currently protesting at the mine to demand payment of their monthly salaries.

 

[grok]

Eskom is still paying to Gupta owned companies for coal which is not being delivered: https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/companies/eskom-paid-more-than-r1bn-to-guptas-18274608

Eksdom really is the aptest name ever!

 

[Gordon_R]

Some glimmers of hope: https://www.fin24.com/Economy/Eskom...-loans-to-improve-power-transmission-20181127

Power utility Eskom has entered into a loan agreement with the African Development Bank Group for R2.8bn and $25m, totalling over R3bn.

This loan agreement is for construction that extends 552km. It consists of transmission lines and associated substations across Mpumalanga and Kwa-Zulu Natal provinces, and will also be used to upgrade substation equipment including earthing systems at various existing substations in Mpumalanga, Eskom said.

It will also incorporate renewable energy into the transmission network, ensure reliability and security of supply, reduce transmission losses and improve regional integration an safety operations, among other things.

 

[requiem]

How the **** can they be spending R1b on coal they are not receiving?

 

[Gordon_R]

How the **** can they be spending R1b on coal they are not receiving?

That's exactly what State Capture is, extracting money for services not delivered.

Quite a good write-up in City Press a week ago: https://city-press.news24.com/Busin...tas-got-multibillion-rand-coal-deals-20181119

Tegeta initially made an unsolicited bid to supply coal from its Brakfontein mine in early 2014.

As early as June 2014, Eskom had determined that only some of the coal from this mine, the so-called seam 4 lower coal, was usable.

However, Tegeta persisted and Eskom entertained this by repeating tests of new samples. The power utility ultimately signed the deal in March 2015, despite all the required tests not even being complete.

Later that year, a new test of the coal was apparently manipulated with a sample from an entirely different mine being provided for testing.

Ultimately, “Tegeta was arbitrarily allowed to start making deliveries without any confirmation on the part of Eskom that their coal was compliant with Eskom’s quality requirements,” reads the report.

Between May 2015 and February this year, when the Gupta business empire went into business rescue, Eskom paid Tegeta R1.3 billion for coal deliveries – including some that seem fictitious and some where the low-quality coal was delivered to stations against the express advice of Eskom experts.