Deterioration of Eskom’s power plants ‘must be addressed’ – energy analysts

Despite the cloud of scepticism surrounding a damning report from German consultancy group VGBE Energy on Eskom, there is an urgent need to address the deteriorating state of the utility’s infrastructure to meet the nation’s dire need for reliable power generation, according to energy analysts.

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Energy policy analyst Sarah Mabunda said, discrepancies or not, the findings in the VGBE Energy report painted a dire picture of Eskom’s infrastructure challenges “and the inaccuracies could only be about the [power stations’] shared water treatment plants and not the crisis behind deteriorating plants”.

Maintenance encouraged

The report suggested to prevent the “collapse” of some plants, Eskom should be allowed to do proper maintenance work “even if this means a higher level of load shedding for a limited period of time”, and the priority of the Eskom coal fleet “has been to quickly fix the actual bottlenecks in generation capacities rather than to restore the plants to ‘as new conditions’ after an outage”.

“The plants have been forced to continue operating at the expense of their technical condition,” it said.

“The consequences are reflected in the high number of incidents, trips and partial load losses.”

Echoing the report’s words, Mabunda said: “Urgent action is needed to prevent a potential energy crisis could have far reaching consequences for South Africa’s economy and society.

“Yes, the discrepancies highlighted in the VGBE report underscore the need for meticulous assessment and verification of data in critical sectors like energy. Inaccurate assessments can lead to misallocation of resources and exacerbate existing challenges.

“But whatever parts of the report they agree with still indicates a major crisis at Eskom which we are not solving or even attempting to solve.”

Eskom’s group executive generation office Eric Shunmagum rejected some of the report’s claims during a media briefing yesterday, saying Medupi and Matimba power stations did not share a water treatment plant.

“We are busy digesting [the report]. We’ve already started having various engagements with National Treasury and the VGBE report is being embraced,” he said.

“However, there are some inaccuracies in the report which we have formally responded [to], and we will continue to work with Treasury.”

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The VGBE report warned that failure of the shared water treatment plant could lead to a loss of 9 800 megawatts from 12 generation units.

Shunmagum claimed no urgent maintenance was required for the water treatment plants at these power stations, contradicting the report’s findings.

Moreover, the report raised concerns about the poor condition of the water treatment plant at the Kendal power station, suggesting the need for urgent maintenance and refurbishment.

Shunmagum acknowledged challenges with water treatment at Kendal: “If we look at Kendal’s detailed recovery plan, challenges do lie with the water treatment plant and we are putting in place an action to address that,” he said.

The report from VGBE Energy, commissioned by National Treasury, highlighted the critical situation with Eskom’s coalfired plants, particularly concerning the deteriorating state of water treatment facilities, said Mabunda.

Report will be considered

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said he would consider the report, alongside similar reports since 2019 by the department of public enterprises, the World Bank and a report commissioned by Eskom.

He said there were “cross-cutting issues in these reports, such as process management, the management infrastructure” at Eskom, and the “mindset, behaviour and capabilities” of the utility’s employees.

“There is greater levels of stability now we have a more permanent appointment at apex level in the form of CEO Dan Marokane and the leadership of the board under Dr Mteto [Nyati]…

“They are working on the more structured way of how best to respond to some of those issues. “I must emphasise that already there is work being done.”