Stage 4 load-shedding from Tuesday to Sunday (13-18 September), Stage 3 thereafter

[Shadowchaser1]

Unbelievable. Failed State Galore. So the list of experts haven't been employed? Just asking. According to my friend in SA it was an emergency some time back?

 

[CommonSense]

I don't have the time to read 6 pages of comments (and this comment will disappear in the mists of time in 1 hour from now too), but:

Three units tripping at one time at one power station speaks to either lacks management and incompetence or both.

Whatever the reason, if 3 units trips in one shift, then you have a problem and if management cannot give answers it means they have not closely looked at what causes trips at all the power stations up to this point and put measures in place to prevent that from happening. I know it must be a difficult task, but if you want to earn a managers pay you need to put the proper measures in place to prevent something like this happening.

It actually puts the top management of Eskom also in a very bad light as they should have ensured that the power station managers are actively looking to prevent loss of so many units at once. Regular inspections to notice a potential issue comes to mind. At that level of management and the scrutiny the company is under should have been enough motivation to tackle this. That this is still happening shows a management problem at Eskom, or an ineffective management team.

 

[Mike Angelo]

I don't have the time to read 6 pages of comments (and this comment will disappear in the mists of time in 1 hour from now too), but:

Three units tripping at one time at one power station speaks to either lacks management and incompetence or both.

Whatever the reason, if 3 units trips in one shift, then you have a problem and if management cannot give answers it means they have not closely looked at what causes trips at all the power stations up to this point and put measures in place to prevent that from happening. I know it must be a difficult task, but if you want to earn a managers pay you need to put the proper measures in place to prevent something like this happening.

It actually puts the top management of Eskom also in a very bad light as they should have ensured that the power station managers are actively looking to prevent loss of so many units at once. Regular inspections to notice a potential issue comes to mind. At that level of management and the scrutiny the company is under should have been enough motivation to tackle this. That this is still happening shows a management problem at Eskom, or an ineffective management team.

Read somewhere that the conveyor supplying the coal broke and they then switched over to the fuel oil backup system which then also broke down. So obviously managers not managing properly and idiots still idioting...

 

[CommonSense]

Read somewhere that the conveyor supplying the coal broke and they then switched over to the fuel oil backup system which then also broke down. So obviously managers not managing properly and idiots still idioting...

Thanks for that. I don't have much detail, but in my, maybe somewhat ignorant, view, a critical system like a conveyor needs to have a secondary backup. Yes, it will cost a lot to install, but the country cannot afford to lose even more money from load-shedding.

That is to say that if coal is fed directly into the furnaces and there is no secondary storage inside the boiler rooms to store a day or two's coal for emergency's which would buy you time to get the conveyor fixed.

There should be people and contacts on standby with SLA's to fix critical parts like these without cause shutdown to the whole station. If that is not in place then again it kinda points to bad managerial practices.

I just in disbelief that this still happens after how many years of this problem and "maintenance" supposedly receiving extra attention. It just smells.

 

[R13...]

Read somewhere that the conveyor supplying the coal broke and they then switched over to the fuel oil backup system which then also broke down. So obviously managers not managing properly and idiots still idioting...

Not sure how fuel oil helps anything. These are coal fired boilers when there's no coal there's no steam and you can't back it with fuel oil that's only used to fire the boiler up and keep the pilot going.

 

[Mike Angelo]

Not sure how fuel oil helps anything. These are coal fired boilers when there's no coal there's no steam and you can't back it with fuel oil that's only used to fire the boiler up and keep the pilot going.

"In the early hours of this morning a conveyor belt feeding coal into Kendal Power Station failed. To conserve coal, the power output of the generators was reduced, but this required fuel oil to be used to sustain the boiler combustion," Eskom said in a statement.
"Subsequently, the fuel oil plant supplying the units experienced a failure and shut down. This resulted in the trip of the three generating units. The Kendal units are anticipated to return to service by the weekend."
Just repeating what they said

 

[RedViking]

I don't have the time to read 6 pages of comments (and this comment will disappear in the mists of time in 1 hour from now too), but:

Three units tripping at one time at one power station speaks to either lacks management and incompetence or both.

Whatever the reason, if 3 units trips in one shift, then you have a problem and if management cannot give answers it means they have not closely looked at what causes trips at all the power stations up to this point and put measures in place to prevent that from happening. I know it must be a difficult task, but if you want to earn a managers pay you need to put the proper measures in place to prevent something like this happening.

It actually puts the top management of Eskom also in a very bad light as they should have ensured that the power station managers are actively looking to prevent loss of so many units at once. Regular inspections to notice a potential issue comes to mind. At that level of management and the scrutiny the company is under should have been enough motivation to tackle this. That this is still happening shows a management problem at Eskom, or an ineffective management team.

Or sabotage. This whole exercise is an extremely lucrative business.

 

[CommonSense]

Or sabotage. This whole exercise is an extremely lucrative business.

I don't doubt that for a minute, but still. If you know your processes and procedures and equipment is prone to damage from sabotage then surely you implement checks and balances to ensure you know who supplied the products and who was on duty at the time and had opportunity to commit said sabotage.

There must be a book by now on preventative measure which must be a compilation of all such acts over the last 10 years to be able to do proper preventative actions.

In my field for instance there is a Root Cause Analysis and you need to indicate measures and steps to prevent a re-occurrence of the issue. Loss prevention.

Surely there is a team which combines all the lessons learned from all the failures over decades now to pinpoint those responsible for sabotage?

 

[wingnut771]

I don't doubt that for a minute, but still. If you know your processes and procedures and equipment is prone to damage from sabotage then surely you implement checks and balances to ensure you know who supplied the products and who was on duty at the time and had opportunity to commit said sabotage.

There must be a book by now on preventative measure which must be a compilation of all such acts over the last 10 years to be able to do proper preventative actions.

In my field for instance there is a Root Cause Analysis and you need to indicate measures and steps to prevent a re-occurrence of the issue. Loss prevention.

Surely there is a team which combines all the lessons learned from all the failures over decades now to pinpoint those responsible for sabotage?

This is called institutional knowledge which Eskom has none anymore.

 

[The_Right_Honourable_Brit]

I don't have the time to read 6 pages of comments (and this comment will disappear in the mists of time in 1 hour from now too), but:

Three units tripping at one time at one power station speaks to either lacks management and incompetence or both.

Whatever the reason, if 3 units trips in one shift, then you have a problem and if management cannot give answers it means they have not closely looked at what causes trips at all the power stations up to this point and put measures in place to prevent that from happening. I know it must be a difficult task, but if you want to earn a managers pay you need to put the proper measures in place to prevent something like this happening.

It actually puts the top management of Eskom also in a very bad light as they should have ensured that the power station managers are actively looking to prevent loss of so many units at once. Regular inspections to notice a potential issue comes to mind. At that level of management and the scrutiny the company is under should have been enough motivation to tackle this. That this is still happening shows a management problem at Eskom, or an ineffective management team.

 

[Gtx Gaming]

22400MW Off the grid from the installed 44000MW so eskom is not even making the 50% mark anymore.

 

[Fulcrum29]

It is always odd that when Ramaphosa leaves the country that Eskom implodes. I guess, should the loadshedding pressure mount that he will cut his visit to the US short.

 

[backstreetboy]

It is always odd that when Ramaphosa leaves the country that Eskom implodes. I guess, should the loadshedding pressure mount that he will cut his visit to the US short.

Lol he doesn't care. Just another fat cat lining his own pockets.

 

[Gtx Gaming]

Evening Peak Feedback: 13/09/2022, 18:41
Total Demand: 31 929MW
Loadshedding: 4 530MW
Virtual Power Station: 171MW
Interruptible Load Supply: 447MW
OCGT’s utilised: 14 (Eskom 13
IPP 1)
Renewable Generation: 933MW (Wind520 MW, CSP 413MW)
@Eskom_SA
Available Generation: 27 316MW

Another tough night with demand at 32000MW, and eskom almost shedding at stage 5

 

[joshuatree]

Evening Peak Feedback: 13/09/2022, 18:41
Total Demand: 31 929MW
Loadshedding: 4 530MW
Virtual Power Station: 171MW
Interruptible Load Supply: 447MW
OCGT’s utilised: 14 (Eskom 13
IPP 1)
Renewable Generation: 933MW (Wind520 MW, CSP 413MW)
@Eskom_SA
Available Generation: 27 316MW

Another tough night with demand at 32000MW, and eskom almost shedding at stage 5

Moer Toe Dan.

 

[CapoPlays]

why dont the anc load shed each other on their faces

 

[Lupus]

Evening Peak Feedback: 13/09/2022, 18:41
Total Demand: 31 929MW
Loadshedding: 4 530MW
Virtual Power Station: 171MW
Interruptible Load Supply: 447MW
OCGT’s utilised: 14 (Eskom 13
IPP 1)
Renewable Generation: 933MW (Wind520 MW, CSP 413MW)
@Eskom_SA
Available Generation: 27 316MW

Another tough night with demand at 32000MW, and eskom almost shedding at stage 5

You're sounding like Ted there, firstly this is a snapshot at this time, how many areas were still coming back up, demand will be higher during loadshedding as this is peak cooking time so people have shifted their loads to these times, the 4 to six crowd are now charging devices, cooking etc, while the 8 to 10 crowd are probably doing the same as well.

 

[RVQ]

A harsh reality is Kendal is one of the newer stations that should have at least 20 more years left to give but it was run so hard during the Zupta age that even the recent heavy maintenance isn't enough to stabilise it. Basically if the ANC hasn't approved and signed off replacments for the entire coal fleet like yesterday then the next few decades are going to be very difficult for SA.

Households, Businesses and Municipalities really need to invest in their own power sources now.

Banks and other lending institutions need to put together low interest loans for anyone trying to move to self generation

 

[RVQ]

I don't have the time to read 6 pages of comments (and this comment will disappear in the mists of time in 1 hour from now too), but:

Three units tripping at one time at one power station speaks to either lacks management and incompetence or both.

Whatever the reason, if 3 units trips in one shift, then you have a problem and if management cannot give answers it means they have not closely looked at what causes trips at all the power stations up to this point and put measures in place to prevent that from happening. I know it must be a difficult task, but if you want to earn a managers pay you need to put the proper measures in place to prevent something like this happening.

It actually puts the top management of Eskom also in a very bad light as they should have ensured that the power station managers are actively looking to prevent loss of so many units at once. Regular inspections to notice a potential issue comes to mind. At that level of management and the scrutiny the company is under should have been enough motivation to tackle this. That this is still happening shows a management problem at Eskom, or an ineffective management team.

It has been said that they do not have the skills to maintain these station, managers can be the best in the world but if the people that are working for them don't know what they doing then failure is certain.

The root of the problem is the ANC, their continous political interference at SOEs, their strict BEE requirements, their relationship with unions, their corruption, their lack of education/ knowledge, their persistence to reject private generation... so long as the ANC leads the problem will keep getting worst and no manager or executive will stand a chance with changing SAs destiny.

The only hope now remains in the hands of the people, businesses and municipalities to invest in self-generation or IPPs

 

[Oldfut]

I don't doubt that for a minute, but still. If you know your processes and procedures and equipment is prone to damage from sabotage then surely you implement checks and balances to ensure you know who supplied the products and who was on duty at the time and had opportunity to commit said sabotage.

There must be a book by now on preventative measure which must be a compilation of all such acts over the last 10 years to be able to do proper preventative actions.

In my field for instance there is a Root Cause Analysis and you need to indicate measures and steps to prevent a re-occurrence of the issue. Loss prevention.

Surely there is a team which combines all the lessons learned from all the failures over decades now to pinpoint those responsible for sabotage?

I think that as regards what passes for line management at Eskom now you may as well be talking Maori. From what we have seen Eskom has a horde of health & safety and environmental compliance "professionals" and very few engineers or technicians, even fewer experienced engineers or technicians. Now overlay that on a power station; to me massively complex involving many different technical aspects from coal quality through instrumentation, crushing etc to air emissions. For each of these you need someone on site who knows the systems and then a resource to use for spares, specialist installations, checks and repairs. Originally there were team leaders who were probably there when the particular systems were built and evolved but these have gone; from fired to retired. Replaced with people who have come up through the ranks as it were; methinks not - the proof of this is in the "breakdowns" now.

Add to this toxic start is that resources must be BEE and Eskom (HO & "local" (tenderpreneurs)) approved plus there are so many layers of internal financial systems; try telling a clueless accountant, terrified of his job, that you need a particular bearing as an emergency purchase, no BEE, no quotes and he will take a months' sick leave.