Eskom dismisses warning of grid crisis, says VGBe’s report contains ‘some inaccuracies’

The warning by the VGBe Consortium of technical experts appointed by National Treasury that 9 800MW of generation capacity could be lost to the grid at once if a dodgy water treatment plant that serves Medupi and its neighbouring power station Matimba fails is nonsense, according to Eskom.

If this “risk” materialised, it would mean about 10 stages of load shedding.

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Putting it very politely, Eric Shunmagum, senior manager in the office of the group executive for generation, Bheki Nxumalo, said on Monday the 600-page report contains “some inaccuracies”, pointing specifically to the fact that Medupi has its own water treatment plant that is in good condition, as is the one at Matimba.

Shunmagum was speaking at Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s regular briefing to update South Africans on progress related to the implementation of government’s Energy Action Plan.

He said Eskom has had several engagements with National Treasury and the team of experts it appointed to establish the true state of the utility’s coal-fired power stations as one of the conditions for the R254 billion debt relief granted to Eskom.

The utility is “still digesting” the report, he said, and is not being defensive but has to point out some of the inaccuracies.

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Shunmagum also denied any risk of a short-supply of water for the operation of the flue-gas desulphurisation unit to be installed at Medupi, which VGBe warned of.

He did however confirm problems with the water treatment plant at Kendal Power Station. That has however been incorporated in the power station’s detailed recovery plan, he added.

Eskom’s detailed response to come

He said Eskom is preparing a strategic, tactical, and operational response to the report and will share some of the issues with the public.

Nevertheless, he said Eskom is taking the report on board. “It has highlighted some of the important issues and affirmed some of the issues we have been working on.”

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National Treasury appointed VGBe in February last year and it submitted its report in the middle of the year.

It was only made public earlier this month because, according to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, it first had to be disseminated within government.

Asked about one of the key recommendations – that one or two external experts be appointed for up to two years at each coal-fired power station – Ramokgopa said that is for Eskom’s board and management to decide.

It remains to be seen whether National Treasury will insist on these appointments.

Shunmagum pointed out that Eskom is extending its use of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) experts on power station boilers and turbines to other auxiliary components.

It is also extending the tenure of staff with critical skills appointed on a contract basis.

In addition, Business for South Africa has, through the National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom), appointed external experts at five Eskom power stations.

Multiple reports to consider

Shunmagum however stopped short of saying that implementing the VGBe recommendation about appointing further external experts is unnecessary.

Ramokgopa also seemed to downplay the report, pointing out that it is one of several reports – including one by a ministerial technical task team, another by the World Bank, and his own diagnostic report compiled after his appointment a year ago and after his visits to all the Eskom power stations.

“Based on its investigation, the VGBe makes several findings, many of which are contained in the Ministerial Diagnostic Report (MoE, 2023),” he said.

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Based on the latter, “several interventions have since been initiated” to address the short-term matters, while the board and executive management “continue to address the systematic challenges” at Eskom.

Ramokgopa said there are three broad themes in all the reports, namely processes and management of infrastructure, operational systems and plant, and people.

Eskom now has a permanent board as well as a new CEO in Dan Marokane, who assumed office on 1 March. They will consolidate the findings of all the reports and formulate a structured response.

Ramokgopa pointed to 10 focus areas in Eskom in response to the report and some successes so far:

This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here