Urgent action is required to address the constraints to South Africa’s power system and to reduce the usage of the diesel-fired turbines, the council said.
Eskom’s diesel usage could cost the economy R24-billion, if costs rise to R25 a litre amid war-induced price hikes. This is according to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which appeared before parliament to weigh in on South Africa’s energy crisis.
The crisis, which stands to be worsened by Russia-related oil price hikes, has put Eskom’s measures to avoid load-shedding in jeopardy. The ailing power utility uses diesel-powered gas turbines when its crumbling coal-power fleet breaks down.
Crude oil prices have hit record highs in recent weeks in response to Moscow’s aggression on Ukraine and bans on Russian exports. Russia is one of the world’s largest crude producers. Crude futures eased on Tuesday to about $99 a barrel, falling below the $100 level for the first time since 1 March.
The Mail & Guardian reported last week that Eskom is running out of options to avoid load-shedding: If the power utility continues to burn diesel at its current rate, it risks totally depleting its reserves. And — even if it had the money — Eskom does not have the logistical capacity to run its gas turbines at a higher rate.
Last week, the utility’s chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer flagged diesel-price hikes as a potential risk to the power system. Eskom is using an “awful amount” of diesel, Oberholzer added.
“We all agree that it is unsustainable and we need to get out of this situation. But for us, burning diesel and having a financial bloody nose is better than putting the country into a higher stage of load-shedding.”
Eskom has increasingly leaned on its gas turbines since 2019, when load-shedding began to intensify.
Last year, the power utility burned 966-million litres of diesel. Eskom used its open-cycle gas turbines four times more than it should have to keep the lights on. Last year was also the worst year for load-shedding on record.
Eskom may have used the gas turbines more had the utility not been logistically constrained, the CSIR said.
In 2021, an additional 723-million litres of diesel was burned to reduce load-shedding, the CSIR noted. At R15 per litre, this cost the country R10.8-billion — about 7.5% of Eskom’s operating expenditure.
Urgent action is required to address the constraints to South Africa’s power system and to reduce the usage of the diesel-fired turbines, the CSIR said. Interventions include bringing more energy generating capacity online, through independent power producers and the risk mitigation independent power producer procurement programme. However, these interventions have been bogged down by delays.
“The reality is that we need capacity and energy to get onto the system as soon as possible,” CSIR energy centre head Clinton Carter-Brown said, adding that nuclear power was still an attractive option.
[/membership]