South Africa: Power supply tight this winter - Eskom

The ANC can find R70bn to pay for their bogus tax payer rort 'arms deal' but can't find the money to maintain South Africa's energy needs. This is pretty tragic - I keep thinking back to Apartheid South Africa where the country was a net exporter of electricity to the rest of Africa. What went wrong? I suppose if you don't know the answer to that question then you deserve to be left in the dark. Black Africa has a poor record of maintaning anything. Go to any country formerly 'occupied' by Europeans and you'll see that the once thriving cities have all been reduced to squalor. You only have to look at how they live in squatter camps to understand that is how they prefer to live. If you're still struggling to understand, think of modern-day Haiti - still the same dump it was after the earthquake - nothing improved by the people. This is South Africa's destiny. Roads, public transport, hospitals, public buildings, public parks - nothing maintained but the ANC money-bags. And then people wonder why tax payers get upset. I could say so much more but why bother. It won't change anything in the New South Africa.

Hat tip: REXTRUT

Winter power supply will be tight as electricity demand has returned to pre-recession levels, Eskom CEO Brian Dames says.
“We are on alert and will be for the next five and especially the next two years, while we build new capacity,” Dames told media in Johannesburg.

“We are managing a tight power system... winter will be even more challenging for us,” he said, adding that the upcoming winter was expected to be colder than normal.

Dames said that for every one degree Celsius colder it gets, electricity demand increased by 600 to 700 megawatts (MW) during the peak hours of 6pm to 8pm.

Eskom's resolve not to revert to the power outages of 2008 which crippled the country, would therefore be tested over winter, he said.

“The issue is whether we have enough reserves to do the maintenance we need to do.”

Dames said Eskom forecast winter demand at 37,500 megawatts (MW) on the coldest day at peak time.

The parastatal expected two percent year-on-year growth in electricity demand for winter.

Electricity demand had increased to the levels at which it was in 2007 before the economic recession set in, Dames said.

The trouble at the Duvha power station, which experienced a “major failure during a statutory turbine overspeed protection test” on February 10, would take 575 MW out of the system for more than a year.

"This increases pressure on the system... and means the ideal level of planned maintenance can't be done,” said Dames.

An independent investigation into the Duvha incident was underway, and Dames would not comment on the cause until the report was concluded.

The power utility had sourced 373 MW of power from independent power producers and 200 MW from municipal generators to add to its capacity.

Source