South Africans will have to contend with high levels of load-shedding for the duration of the week and state power utility Eskom will urgently approach independent producers to procure 1 000 megawatts of power.
Eskom executives said this at an emergency media briefing on Sunday, after the utility announced stage six load-shedding the previous evening.
Load-shedding is a controlled process of rotational power cuts that the utility implements to protect the electricity power system from a total blackout. Stage six allows for up to 6 000MW of the national load to be shed.
On Sunday, Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter said that there was a risk of moving to higher stages and the utility was preparing for this.
“We are managing this risk to the best of our ability using both the maintenance work we are doing at the moment and the repair work we are doing at the moment, this will hopefully allow us to cap stage six load-shedding and avoid further stages of load-shedding,” he added.
Sunday’s ramping up of the rolling blackouts came a day after Eskom said it was escalating to stage five after a breakdown in five generating units, amounting to a combined capacity of 2 400MW. Sunday’s move came after the tripping of a generation unit each at the Kusile and Kriel power stations.
De Ruyter said that the system had been under pressure over the past week, forcing Eskom to run on diesel and dam reserves. He said there was no evidence that the current electricity crisis had been caused by any acts of sabotage.
He said the Eskom board had held an urgent meeting with Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, where they decided to approach independent power producers (IPPs) and procure 1 000MW on an urgent basis. The utility generates approximately 95% of electricity used in South Africa, most of it coal fired.
“In the case of IPPs, we have a very high degree of confidence that we can urgently procure more megawatts,” the Eskom boss said.
He dismissed suggestions that the country would regress towards a total blackout, but said the power utility needed support from consumers to manage energy demand.
“We are doing our level best to avoid a total system collapse, which is why we have load-shedding. Load-shedding is a managed rotational reduction of the supply of electricity in order for us to maintain the frequency on the grid,” De Ruyter said.
“That allows us to then keep the electricity flowing. If we do not implement load-shedding, what we will then see is the frequency is likely to deteriorate where we are unable to operate the grid in a stable fashion. Once that happens you have what is known as total blackout.”
Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer said the entity had a sufficiently experienced and competent executive team and operational team and all hands were on deck to ensure the successful return of all units.
He warned, however, that the use of an ageing coal fleet remained too high.
“Looking ahead, stage six load-shedding will remain implemented until sufficient generating units are returned to service and the emergency reserve levels are replenished,” Oberholzer said.
“Depending on what is happening today, we may be able to drop a stage in load-shedding … It will depend on the replenishment of reserves and sufficient generation.
He added that for the rest of the week, it was highly likely that the country would have high stages of load-shedding.
De Ruyter said while there were plans to bring back 1 590MW by Sunday evening and 3 500MW by Monday evening, this did not guarantee that generation capacity would be back in full force as the utility was dealing with ageing units.
Eskom has also grappled with financial constraints for years. De Ruyter said on Sunday the utility had already spent R7.7-billion on diesel in five months, which was its budget for the full year. Another R5-billion would be used to buy more diesel.
De Ruyter said the decision to place the country on stage six came after consultation with Eskom executives after the breakdown at the Kusile power station.
De Ruyter said another reason for the generation capacity constraint was that there was a “challenge” at unit two at the Koeberg nuclear power station.
“This is a mechanical problem … I can give South Africa the assurance that we are being extremely cautious and we are consulting with … the contractor who is on site and there are experts based in France and the World Association of Nuclear Operators to ensure we comply very strictly with all nuclear safety protocols as we test this unit. We will not bring back that unit if there is any risk at all,” he said.
In July, after South Africa suffered stage six load-shedding, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a raft of government interventions to try to stabilise electricity supply, including improving plant performance, establishing a competitive electricity market, opening the way for private investment in new generation capacity and increasing South Africa’s investment in renewables. Ramaphosa asked citizens to be patient and gave assurances that Eskom would avoid high levels of load-shedding stages in the future.
On Sunday the main opposition Democratic Alliance urged Ramaphosa — who just completed a visit to the US and will attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in the UK on Monday — to immediately return home and deal with the energy crisis.
“With Eskom announcing stage six load-shedding due to a systemwide failure of generation units across its generation fleet, Ramaphosa is now duty-bound to heed the DA call and declare a ring-fenced state of disaster around Eskom,” the party’s head of mineral resources and energy Kevin Mileham and that of public enterprises Ghaleb Cachalia said in a joint statement.
“Eskom’s failure to provide a reliable supply of electricity makes the 32% tariff increase application to (energy regulator) Nersa simply out of touch with reality. The DA reiterates its call that Eskom should not be rewarded for keeping South Africans in the dark.”