Eskom to add new generation capacity ‘on an urgent basis’, says Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says Eskom will add new generation capacity “on an urgent basis” as government’s response to South Africa’s electricity crisis.

Addressing the nation on Monday, Ramaphosa said it was time for citizens to unite in fighting the “national crisis”.

“This in many ways is a call for all South Africans to be part of the solution to contribute in whatever way that we all can to end energy scarcity in South Africa,” he said.

Ramaphosa said he understood that South Africans were justifiably “fed up” and government’s new measures would improve Eskom’s existing fleet of power stations – which are old, with the average age being 35 years – as well as increasing private sector involvement in generating capacity, among other things.

He further said the measures would essentially transform the electricity sector by allowing businesses and households to invest in solar panels.

“As government we are announcing a number of interventions to overcome the immediate crisis,” the president said.

‘Fraud and sabotage

The president explained that the problem to the country’s energy crisis was due to a shortfall in generation capacity.

South Africa has currently installed generation capacity of 46,000 megawatts (MW), however, only 60% is available at any given time due to maintenance and unplanned outages.

“Many of our power stations were built many years ago. The average age of Eskom’s power stations is 35 years. Generally as power stations get older, their performance deteriorates.

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“The construction of our newest power stations, Medupi and Kusile, started late and they have experienced several delays and some design flaws. These challenges are being addressed,” he explained.

“As a result of this, Eskom deferred essential maintenance to keep the lights on, which is causing breakdowns and failures now. The performance of some of Eskom’s power stations have been further worsened by extensive theft, fraud and sabotage,” the president added.

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As things stand, Ramaphosa said, South Africa has an electricity shortage of up to 6,000 MW.

“In recent weeks, a combination of factors resulted in 18,000 MW of generation capacity being lost, and forced Eskom to implement stage 6 load shedding.

“Eskom has to implement load shedding to prevent the electricity grid from collapsing, and to ensure that we never experience a complete blackout.

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“The factors that led to the latest load shedding included a number unit breakdowns at some power stations,” he further said.

The outlook for electricity has since improved thanks in part to a labour wage agreement between unions and Eskom, however, the system remains unreliable.

“The shortage of electricity is a huge constraint on economic growth and job creation. It deters investment and reduces our economy’s competitiveness,” Ramaphosa said.

1MW to 100 MW

The president said the revival of the renewable energy procurement programme in 2018 was one of the first steps his administration took to address the electricity shortfall.

“We have started to diversify generation by allowing parties other than Eskom to generate electricity. In June last year, we raised the licensing threshold for new embedded generation projects from 1MW to 100 MW.

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“This removed the licensing requirement for generation projects up to 100 MW that are connected to the grid. We also changed the regulations to allow municipalities to procure power independently. A number of municipalities are already in the process of doing so.”

Ramaphosa further said Eskom would increase its maintenance budget over the next 12 months in order to improve power station fleets’ performance.

“We are cutting red tape that has made it difficult for Eskom to buy maintenance equipment to effect repairs,” he said adding that Eskom was now recruiting skilled personnel – including former Eskom engineers.

“I have been heartened by approaches from former plant managers who have left Eskom and came forward to say that they want to lend a hand,” Ramaphosa continued to say.

Meanwhile, Eskom will also add new generation capacity “on an urgent basis” over the next three months,

“As an immediate measure surplus capacity will be bought from independent power producers [IPPs].

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“These are power plants which build more capacity than was required and can now supply this access power to Eskom.”

In addition, Eskom will also purchase more energy from existing private generators such as mines, paper mills, shopping centers and other private entities that have surplus power.

The president indicated that government’s second priority was to accelerate the procurement of new capacity from renewables, gas and battery storage.