Eskom blames clouds for load shedding, says power cuts will last 2 more years

Eskom has cited power loss from units across the country including a plant in Mozambique.

In a statement Eskom said some of the generating units that are currently offline due to technical faults include Unit 6 of the Duvha power station, which lost 300 MW and Cahora Bassa in Mozambique which also lost 300 MW due to technical faults.

The embattled supplier also blamed cloudy weather conditions which lead to a “further loss of 300 MW from the independent solar power projects in the Northern Cape”.

Demand increase

Eskom announced on Wednesday that it will implement stage 2 load shedding from 16:00 to 22:00.

“This is due to increased electricity demand and a shortage of generation capacity resulting from technical faults at some of our units,” it said.

Over the past three days, Eskom has had to implement load shedding mainly due to a sharp increase in electricity demand in the evenings.

On Monday, electricity demand reached a high of 35 274 MW from an average demand of 33 000 MW, according to Eskom.

Payment agreement

Meanwhile Eskom has notified the public that the power cuts planned for the Emalahleni Local Municipality for 11 June has been postponed.

“The municipality has entered into a 24-month payment agreement with Eskom and has paid the committed amount. Going forward, the municipality is expected to comply with the payment agreement conditions, which include payment of accounts in full and on time, and honouring the debt payment terms.

“Payments will be monitored continuously and Eskom reserves the right to implement morning and evening peak interruptions, on a 48 hours’ notice, if the municipality defaults on the payment agreement at any stage,” Eskom said in a statement.

In April Eskom threatened to pull the plug on the country’s top 20 defaulting municipalities who collectively owed the supplier R3.68bn.

We can’t run away from load shedding

The power crisis is something that South Africa would have to bear with for at least the next two years, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday.

“That is going to be a problem that will stay with us for… two years. We can’t run away from that,” he said during a question and answer session in the National Assembly.

He said many countries around the world were facing an energy crisis, including the USA.

“The good thing with us is we are not sitting on our backsides. We are addressing the problem.”

He said state owned enterprises had accelerated development in the country over the past 10 years.

“Notable progress has been made in turning around Eskom. I did say the appointment of the acting CEO [Brian Molefe] has been a really good shot in the arm of Eskom,” Ramaphosa said.

“Governance and leadership challenges at Eskom are being addressed as we speak.

“South African Airways and the South African Post Office are also being turned around.”

‘They are going to be turned around’

He said there were a number of reasons why parastatals could underperform, including governance problems.

“[However] we must dispel the myth that people who run parastatals are ill-equipped to do so. Many of them are good professionals and they need to be supported and assisted in their work.”

He said Transnet was an example of parastatal that was “operating well”.

“It may well appear that we are pumping billions [into parastatals], and we are. But that is how it works,” Ramaphosa said.

“They are going to be turned around.”

He said almost all companies have high and low periods, including those on the stock exchange.

“When they go through their down time, you don’t jettison them and throw them away.”

Ramaphosa was also asked about reports that PetroSA could declare a loss of between R9bn and R14.9bn for the 2014-15 year, which would the largest incurred by a state company.

He responded that many companies in the oil sector were having financial troubles, however he did not speak specifically on PetroSA’s reported loss.

Source: News24

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