Eskom pulls the plug on Southern Africa

I still don't understand why Eskom has to power neighbouring countries ???? It doesn't make any sense.:mad:
 
Wow it seems like Ekskommel is reacting to the threats thrown at them this week. Now they're saying that they will cut power to Zimbabwe when earlier on they denied supplying them :rolleyes:
 
I wonder if eskom could turn its power grid into a distributed system. have all those people with generators connected to local grids. those generators that produce excess energy can push it into the power grid and get compensated financially,... those who use more than they produce can pay for the energy... but at least the lights will be on.
 
w1z4rd said:
I wonder if eskom could turn its power grid into a distributed system. have all those people with generators connected to local grids. those generators that produce excess energy can push it into the power grid and get compensated financially,... those who use more than they produce can pay for the energy... but at least the lights will be on.
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As long as they pay the R9.00 per KW cost to generate it is OK!
 
why the focus on nuclear though? i just dont get it. surely it would be cheaper and have a shorter lead time to drop in a couple hectares of solar? i mean we have the karroo, they get what 1 day of rain a year? its always frikkin sunny there. buy up like 100 ha of land. do the cabling to the nearest grid point first then start installing solar panels. as each panel is installed it can immedately be connected to the grid.

with the advances in solar power it is now cheaper to produce electricity through solar than it is to produce it through coal. also there is no frikkin nuclear waste to dispose of and if theres an accident at the plant oh wow it means someone gets a cut from some broken glass, not that a large portion of the country is uninhabitable for the next 1000 years.

the mentality in this country is driving me frikkin insane i mean come now. the nuclear stations will be ready by 2016? so what we supposed to sit with no power for the next 8 years. my a$$. and can someone please explain to me how come it is that 6 months ago there was no need to load shed? what, are you seriously trying to tell me that the eletricity needs have grown by over 2000 MW in 6 months? bollocks
 
w1z4rd said:
I wonder if eskom could turn its power grid into a distributed system. have all those people with generators connected to local grids. those generators that produce excess energy can push it into the power grid and get compensated financially,... those who use more than they produce can pay for the energy... but at least the lights will be on.
Click to expand...

Eishkom have declined to use this model which is being used successfully in the States and Europe. In civilised countries if you install solar power and use it to power your household any surplus you generate is fed back into the grid and your account credited. When you use power from the grid you are debited. Sounds simple, doesn't it.

Not in South Africa! Here the power is sold, at inflated prices, to the local authorites and they resell it at further inflated prices to us, the "ever-willing-to-be raped" consumer. I'm sure I don't have to explain why the system detailed above won't work here! No kick backs, greased palms and easy money should suffice as an explanation!
 
I could say a lot of things

You know why dont zimbabwians and nambians and all the ians just buy generators for them why do we south africans have to buy generators we pay the electric bill on the end of the month. zimbabwe and all those countries are recieving our electricity for free why dont we demand that we also want it free. you know this country is pissing me off. let me just shut up for know before i get racist:(:(:mad::mad:
 
Eskom has also warned that the blackouts will continue in the week ahead.
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Why? I thought they were going to cut exporting? Or are they going to have to discuss that first for the next year?
 
eskom spokesman said on the radio they were only supplying 950MW to some Mozambique smelter, and denied all other exports. Now they are cutting power to 3 countries. Hmm it seems commonplace in this country to get fed lies all the time, what do they think we are stupid? Ya vote for the next lying pocket-lining politician so that they can take our taxes to line their own pockets instead of fixing our roads and supplying us basic needs. I hear in my area there will be water cut today. No power, no water, we might as well go live in a cave.

Someone was talking about solar panel - well that's something currently for the rich only - it costs 5 grand per 50W - so calculate how many you will need for an average household to generate surplus? Yeah right. For Eskum to even generate the shortfall 2000MW of solar power, it will cost them like 50 billion rands or something.

Something else that pisses me off - why some areas are hit down 2 to 4 times a day, yet other areas are not affected? Is this because ministers live in certain areas? AND it has nothing to do with 'affluent' areas - I live in Sandton and we have been out 2 to 4 times a day for the last 10 days. I Eskum going to subsidise me for the ten grand I have to spend on a generator, just so that my son can do his homework uninterrupted? Hmm think again, we will probably all get billed 20% more just to cover up the loss of revenue from exports.

Thank you SA - tax us dry then give us nothing. For the first time in 12 years, I am considering leaving the country.
 
friedpiggy said:
why the focus on nuclear though? i just dont get it. surely it would be cheaper and have a shorter lead time to drop in a couple hectares of solar? i mean we have the karroo, they get what 1 day of rain a year? its always frikkin sunny there. buy up like 100 ha of land. do the cabling to the nearest grid point first then start installing solar panels. as each panel is installed it can immedately be connected to the grid.
Click to expand...
Please can you suggest a solar technology that you think would be appropriate. There is no solar technology that I know of that comes close to the R/MW efficiency of coal and nuclear and I would guess that there is 10-20 years of R&D before we get there. Shorter lead times you say? :confused:

PCTECH said:
Not in South Africa! Here the power is sold, at inflated prices, to the local authorites and they resell it at further inflated prices to us, the "ever-willing-to-be raped" consumer.
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Last I checked Eskom still supplied some of the cheapest power in the world.

Sandman30s said:
Something else that pisses me off - why some areas are hit down 2 to 4 times a day, yet other areas are not affected? Is this because ministers live in certain areas? AND it has nothing to do with 'affluent' areas - I live in Sandton and we have been out 2 to 4 times a day for the last 10 days.
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It could be that the affluent areas are being cut more due to the fact that they have a higher concentration of usage and fewer households have to be cut to achieve the same load reduction.
 
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Sandman30s said:
eskom spokesman said on the radio they were only supplying 950MW to some Mozambique smelter, and denied all other exports. Now they are cutting power to 3 countries. Hmm it seems commonplace in this country to get fed lies all the time, what do they think we are stupid?
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The people who lie think we all think like them. That we are too stupid to work out the truth, and will just accept whatever is fed to us.
And then, someone comes along with facts, and challenges them. And then they admit the truth.

It is actually quite amusing - it gives an insight into the mentality of the liar.
 
ambo said:
It could be that the affluent areas are being cut more due to the fact that they have a higher concentration of usage and fewer households have to be cut to achieve the same load reduction.
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While that is true, those areas also contribute the most to the economy - and should be shed less.
 
Sandman30s said:
eskom spokesman said on the radio they were only supplying 950MW to some Mozambique smelter, and denied all other exports. Now they are cutting power to 3 countries. Hmm it seems commonplace in this country to get fed lies all the time, what do they think we are stupid?
Click to expand...
I heard that on SAFM as well. Facing a disgruntled public they choose to lie, hardly instills confidence now does it.
 
Moederloos said:
While that is true, those areas also contribute the most to the economy - and should be shed less.
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Industrial and business areas contribute most, it goes without saying. So factories and businesses/corporate offices/design studios/whatever should
have least powercuts. If Johnny can't play his PS3 for 2 hours a day, it's
no financial loss.

But people should also use less. In affluent areas, it has become the norm to illuminate houses like
Xmas trees inside and out, plus people use airconditioning and more heating in winter time too.
Why do people have to turn 20 lights outside and 30 inside the house is beyond me, every single
night. Its the same as the big SUV thing. If you want to use a gas guzzler instead of a leaner
sedan you should pay more OR there should be a greenhouse gas quota per person, going
over should not be allowed. In Singapore for example before you can buy a car you have
to pay like $100.000 or similar amount to obtain a permit to be able to purchase a car.
Maybe they should offer such levies on gas guzzlers.
 
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Moederloos said:
While that is true, those areas also contribute the most to the economy - and should be shed less.
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True. And, we all need to play our part. Drive around Sandton in the night, and see all the huge corporate buildings keeping all their lights on, and probably air-conditioning. Surely they can cut down to 20% usage at night?? We doesn't the minister appeal to corporate SA to cut down on night usage so that households can be saved the ignominy of darkness during 'family-building' time. But nooooo yet another brilliant minister got nothing better to say than to tell businesses to stop panicking. The same businesses are now no more. Surely if the minister has a shortage of brain cells, her advisors can load the few brain cells with the correct things to say??
 
And what I'm wondering is, why no heads in Guavamint and at Ekskommel have rolled for this complete and utter failure? We obviously know the answer to that one.

The government needs to stop meddling in key-industries: the people, whether poor or rich are not being helped. This state cannot be run by communists, unionists and socialists! It's been an utter failure thus far for infrastructure development and service delivery, again for both poor and rich.

One thing's for certain now though: you can forget that ambitious 6% growth rate now. We'll be lucky if we hold even until 2013 or 2016, or whenever the powers that be finally get additional power capacity online.
 
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