Coal exports can’t be blamed for Eskom’s load shedding, says Minerals Council

The Minerals Council South Africa said it is concerned about a social media campaign calling for coal exports to stop in the hope it will end load shedding.

It said the campaign is not factual and relies on “outright fallacious allegations”.

Reasons for load shedding

The campaign alleges that Eskom’s inability to keep up with electricity demand is because South Africa is exporting coal.

On Friday, Minerals Council South Africa said the high number of breakdowns and lack of planned maintenance by Eskom is to blame for load shedding.

“Eskom is not short of coal and continues to receive all the coal it expects from its contracted suppliers,” it said.

Energy expert Chris Yelland also laid the blame at Eskom’s power stations.

“The biggest cause of widespread and extended rolling power cuts experienced in South Africa is Eskom’s poorly performing, new, middle-aged and old, unreliable, unpredictable, intermittent, dirty, thirsty, unhealthy, polluting, non-compliant, CO2 emitting coal-fired power stations,” Yelland tweeted.

Social media campaign

Some people created a clamour on social media by claiming that South Africa is exporting its best quality coal and trying to push through renewable energy at the same time.

One prominent person to add his voice to this argument was the Jacob Zuma Foundation’s spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi.

“So, basically, we in South Africa must be saddled with load shedding and unreliable renewable sources whilst our precious coal is being sent to the EU and elsewhere to provide a base load for others. This doesn’t sound smart on our side,” Manyi tweeted.

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Minerals Council South Africa, however, rubbished these claims.

“Eskom’s national spokesperson, Sikonathi Mantshantsha, has confirmed today the power utility has 31.8 days’ worth of stockpiled coal at its power plants against a required minimum of 20 days,” it said.

Eskom receives contracted and expected deliveries of coal continuously, it added.

“It is recommended that the protagonists who are calling for a curtailment in coal exports should rather focus on helping Eskom improve the reliability of the power station fleet,” Minerals Council South Africa said.

‘Coal exports create jobs’

It said the calls to disrupt coal exports could result in:

• Disrupted mining operations and potential job losses if the disruptions are protracted.
• Uncertainty among international investors.
• Damage to the perception of South Africa as a reliable source of commodities.
• Legal challenges for coal exporters unable to fulfil contractual obligations.
• Reduced taxes and royalty revenues flowing to the state.

The council also said a reduction of coal exports will lead to job losses in South Africa.

“[Eskom’s] stated intention of decommissioning 24 100MW of coal-generated electricity beyond 2030 will reduce its coal demand to below 50 million tonnes annually. The export market is critical to maintain jobs in coal mining, which employs 91 000 people, and thousands more people employed in rail, road and port logistics jobs.”

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