Eskom has already signed contracts with independent power producers to avoid rolling blackouts, the power utility said on Tuesday.
It is also ready to sign up 1 000 megawatts of renewable energy from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and another 1 000Mw from gas turbines, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
“The situation is really tight and Eskom has been very clear about risks that we face in the next three years, but we can avoid blackouts as long as Eskom continues with its build programme without delay and does what it has to do in terms of plant performance,” said divisional executive for systems operations and planning at Eskom, Kannan Lakmeeharan.
“We need IPPs to come on … and we need all consumers to save electricity and only if we do all those things can we ensure there’s no blackouts, so its not just Eskom alone, it has to be a partnership with South Africa,” he said.
On Monday, Happy Masondo, a director at Werksmans Attorneys, criticised Eskom for lacking the will to bring IPPs on board.
IPPs have to sell their electricity to Eskom, which then passes it on to consumers.
Masondo said it seemed “short-sighted to continue to have Eskom in the driving seat of such a process when all indicators point to the need for South Africa to break the monopoly of the national utility”.
He suggested IPPs should be allowed to sell power directly to consumers.
Profits increasing
On the release of its interim results on Tuesday, Eskom showed a R9,5-billion net profit for the six months ended September 2010.
This was an improvement on the R1,1-billion in the first half of last year. Eskom returned to full-year profitability in March 2010.
“Eskom has moved away from recovery mode and is now laying a foundation for sustainable growth.
“We have a new strategic direction, the build programme is progressing, our funding plan is in place and these results show we are improving the bottom line,” said Eskom chief executive Brian Dames.
Although there had been no significant power supply problems during winter, there were still risks.
“We are proud of the fact that we have kept South Africa’s lights on since April 2008, and we are determined to maintain that record, even though supply will be tight up to 2015, and particularly so next year and in 2012, until our large new power stations come on line.”
Three new power stations were under construction.
The first unit of the Medupi coal-fired power station was scheduled to come on line at the end of 2012, with the Ingula pumped storage scheme following at the beginning of 2014.
The first unit of the Kusile power station would be up by the end of 2014.
Minister is positive about results
Minister of Public Enterprises Malusi Gigaba said: “The company is beginning to turn around, to become more profitable, and we are encouraged by that. As well as reporting positive results, the organisation’s corporate governance is stable … “
He said as the shareholder department, they had to ensure state entities like Eskom were financially viable and self-sustaining.
“In addition to the new guarantees amounting to R174-billion, which were recently announced by the minister of finance in his medium term policy statement, government has in recent years provided a R60-billion loan to Eskom, as well as R176-billion in guarantees, to ensure that we can assist Eskom to keep the lights on.”
He said the department supported the proposed R20-billion equity injection into Eskom. The details would be outlined in the Ministers Committee on the Budget and then tabled by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his next Budget.
“We are fully aware of the challenges that still remain in the electricity sector, and we would, therefore, urge the company not to become complacent,” said Gigaba. — Sapa