Eskom has told the Public Enterprises Committee that it’s not an impossible task to end load shedding. However, the power utility says there are a number of things that need to be done to achieve sufficient energy supply.
Both the power utility and the Department of Public Enterprises virtually brief the committee on the utility’s annual report.
Members of the Committee are concerned about the imminent load shedding and its negative impact. They want answers from those responsible to keep the lights on. The Department of Public Enterprise says this requires all those involved to do their part. Minister Pravin Gordhan elaborates.
“Our aim certainly must be that load shedding must end sooner rather than later. It will end when all of those things are done properly but in particular, if we have extra megawatts on the system and thirdly we can get extra megawatts by doing maintenance better but also doing the operations which is the point you making chairperson doing the operations as is required to be done by managers at different levels within the power stations and within Megawatt Park itself if everybody does their bit of work with the necessary discipline.”
Additional megawatts
Eskom also says it required additional megawatts to the grid to be able to eliminate load shedding. Eskom Board Chairperson Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, however, says their request is yet to be met.
“We all want to reduce load shedding and bring it to an end. It is not an impossible task but we are faced as I say with plants that have been deteriorating over the past 15 years so that’s the challenge we are facing and how we repair and restore this plant requires a detailed plan in which all the role players are coordinated and are in sync as somebody has mentioned about 2/3 years ago. Eskom made it clear that we require an additional megawatt capacity of between 4 000 – 6 000. It has been three years since that call was made by Eskom, but it has not occurred.”
Rolling Blackouts | Eskom updates on system challenges:
The power utility added that the explosion at Medupi Power Station has affected the power supply. It has vowed to take action if its investigation points to negligence.
CEO Andre De Ruyter explains, “This was a very significant incident that played a major role in the current load shedding that we are experiencing a loss of generation capacity to the tune of some 720 megawatts which will take between 18 and 24 months to recover therefore this is clearly a matter of national interest and we need to identify if there was any negligence or malicious intent and if there was we need to bring those individuals to book.”
De Ruyter also said he’s sorry about the remark he made about Eskom being a dead horse and withdrew it.
Government must take drastic action against Eskom: Mike Rossouw
Rolling Blackouts | Analysis of Eskom’s approach to rolling blackouts: Roger Lilley
