For the first time in November, total breakdowns at Eskom — the prime culprit behind loadshedding — fell in the lower regions of 12 000MW.
Is Eskom winning the fight against loadshedding?
Managing potential catastrophe has been an ongoing battle for the national power supplier, since the advent of rotational power cuts in 2008.
By its own admission, Eskom may need a few more years to decisively deal with blackouts which are brought on by a number of issues, none of which are more prevalent than the failure of power stations to generate sufficient electricity.
South Africa’s age-old coal-fired power generators are barely able to push through the rust and feed the grid with enough energy to sustain the demand for electricity.
Since the start of November, generating units at Arnot, Hendrina, Kusile, Lethabo, Matimba and other power stations have tripped or failed to return to service, for reasons Eskom has kept away from the public domain.
Faced with mounting ire from citizens, the national power supplier has quietly managed its problems with calls growing for a change in its power structures.
However, for the first time in November, and perhaps since before October, technicians working extended hours managed to bring total breakdowns to 12 709MW as of Tuesday 9 November.
While this is still a massive chunk of power not feeding into the grid, it does indicate that extensive work is being done to address the immediate problems contributing to the erosion of the state-owned utility’s generation infrastructure.
The table below, for example, shows the performance of Eskom’s management of total breakdowns and planned maintenance since the start of November.
Total breakdowns stood at more than 17 900MW when loadshedding was first announced this month, on Tuesday 2 November 2021, to be exact. A week later, with matters escalated to stage 4 by the first Sunday of November, the power utility reduced total breakdowns by 29.13%.
On the other hand, Eskom has faced immense pressure to keep up with its goal of establishing a planned maintenance programme where, at any given time, a minimum threshold of 5 000MW of power is kept away from the grid due to generating units undergoing repairs and general upkeep.
As the figures below indicate, the national power supplier managed to increase its efforts and at the time of reporting, had more than 6 000MW out on planned maintenance.
Here is a look at Eskom’s capacity in November, thus far:
Date | Total breakdowns | Change | Planned maintenance | Change |
Tuesday 2 November 2021 | 17 933MW | 0.00% | 3 451MW | 0.00% |
Friday 5 November 2021 | 17 437MW | 2.76% | 4 361MW | 26.36% |
Sunday 7 November 2021 | 16 693MW | 4.26% | 5 769MW | 32.28% |
Monday 8 November 2021 | 14 874MW | 10.89% | 5 579MW | 3.29% |
Tuesday 9 November 2021 | 12 709MW | 14.55% | 6 164MW | 10.48% |
Eskom latest: More blackouts expected this weekend
On Wednesday, South Africa was loadshedding at stage 3, with two-to-four-hour rotational power cuts expected, at most, nine times before 05:00 on Friday 12 November 2021.
Thereafter, the power utility explained, blackouts will be adjusted to stage 2 and remain in place for the weekend.
“It is necessary to continue with loadshedding in order to replenish the emergency generation reserves,” Eskom noted.
A general misconception around loadshedding is that it is directly linked to a power system on the verge of imminent collapse. As explained by the utility’s spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha in an interview with Jacaranda FM, rotational power cuts are turned to as a last resort, when emergency generation reserves, i.e. open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) have been extensively used.
Diesel is required to power up OCGTs which, in turn, generate electricity for the grid. Not only does this pollute the environment, it is a costly headache for Eskom.
According to Mantshantsha, powering OCGTs at full capacity to provide auxiliary support to coal-fired generation units costs Eskom R10 million per hour.
“Eskom has been using open cycle gas turbines for more than 10 years since we have had this problem of shortage of capacity. This burns a significant hole in the finances because it costs a lot of money,” he said.
Moreover, between 2009 and 2019, the national power supplier spent a whopping R47.4 billion on diesel orders. This has resulted in year-on-year losses exacerbated by rampant problems with corruption, maladministration and lack of maintenance of the state-owned entity’s power stations.
“Eskom would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the implementation of loadshedding, and requests the public to continue reducing the usage of electricity in order to help us through the constraints,” the utility pleaded.