Cape Town - Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, apologised to the nation on Thursday, saying the current Stage 6 load shedding crisis was as a result of “malfunctioning within the Eskom systems and possibly sabotage”.
“I met the board of Eskom (Wednesday). I have directed them to meet and act with a great sense of urgency in order to ensure that the management of Eskom gets the country out of level 6 load shedding with immediate effect,” said Gordhan.
“Power cuts are having a devastating effect on households and livelihoods, investment and economic climate. This is totally unacceptable.”
He warned those behind the alleged acts of sabotage: “We have had to call on law enforcement agencies to show a stronger presence at all Eskom power stations. Those who are involved in nefarious activities, beware. We will not tolerate any activities whose purpose is not in the national interest.”
Eskom announced that the breakdowns at a number of its power stations, combined with critical planned repairs and maintenance at various stations, including Koeberg nuclear power station, would result in reduced available generation capacity and, ultimately, a summer spent in darkness.
On Wednesday, the power utility implemented Stage 6 load shedding for the umpteenth time this year and said that it would be reduced to Stage 5 from today until Saturday.
Eskom’s Sikonathi Mantshantsha said: “We currently have 4 984MW on planned maintenance, while another 19 052MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.”
The higher levels of load shedding experienced were attributed to the breakdown of a number of power stations, and their delays to get back into service while major repairs and maintenance projects were taking place.
The depletion of Eskom’s budget to acquire diesel for the open-cycle gas turbines has also had a major effect.
Unit 1 of the Koeberg nuclear power station was supposed to be shut down yesterday, until June, for critical maintenance, refuelling, and the replacement of the three steam generators, as part of the long-term operation to extend its operating life, which will expire in 2024.
However, the shutdown was delayed to allow time to stabilise the system and the recovery of some generation capacity.
The shutdown is now expected to take place tomorrow, if grid conditions have recovered enough to ensure the stability of the system.
Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer said: “This is the reality of operating a shrunken generation system bereft of any reserve margin – every single breakdown pushes the whole system to the edge.
“This loss of capacity will make for a very challenging summer season, particularly as this is our peak planned maintenance period.”
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said: “Our country was plunged once again into Stage 6 darkness and now we face the real possibility of facing even higher stages … Eskom announced that Koeberg Unit 1 must go out of service for at least six months for essential upgrades.
“In response, the City activated our Disaster Management Centre which will remain activated until the threat of Stage 8 recedes.”
Hill-Lewis said every effort was made to protect essential services in the event of an escalation beyond Stage 6. “If this were to happen, it would be a time of profound and unprecedented social and economic crisis for South Africa,” he added.
On Thursday, the National Treasury and the Minister of Finance said they were acutely aware of the impact Eskom’s diesel shortages may have on already severe levels of load shedding.
They would continue engaging with the Department of Public Enterprises and Eskom to identify solutions to Eskom’s struggle to purchase diesel.
“Eskom didn’t apply for funding through the budget process and Eskom management should therefore take all necessary steps to ensure they secure the diesel needed to avert severe load shedding,” the National Treasury said.
Independent energy analyst Hilton Trollip said: “It is true that the performance of the Eskom coal fleet couldn’t have been predicted to be this bad, but even if the coal fleet had performed according to credible predictions (not politically influenced wishes) then we would still have an electricity shortage.
“That is because since the bid window awards of the independent power producer (IPP) electricity procurement programme in 2014, only 340MW of new power has been contracted from new bid windows. The IPP is the main way that new power gets onto the system and it is run by the DMRE.”
Trollip said there was a 6 000MW shortage, thus it was inevitable that there would be a shortage at this stage, because for seven years there has been a delay in signing IPP power purchase agreements from new bid windows.