Eskom’s billion rand idea
JOBURG — Eskom's CEO shines light on the company's bleak future.
Eskom’s acting CEO Brian Molefe held a briefing on 17 June to outline the power utility’s current winter outlook.
Molefe said Eskom is making steady progress in reducing the current maintenance backlog. However, he warned that the power system would remain under pressure for at least two years as they try to balance the supply and demand during that period.
“The focus of our maintenance drive is to ensure long-term reliability and sustainability of our power generating plants. Since December 2014, the availability of Eskom’s plant performance has improved from 65 per cent to 75 per cent. Going forward, we plan to continue with our maintenance programme in an effort to reduce the backlog that has accumulated over the past few years.”
In his quarterly system status briefing, Molefe said the cold weather would mean pushing the ageing and volatile plants to run at 100 per cent capacity, resulting in more unplanned outages.
Eskom has supplied an average of 96 per cent of electricity in the country in the first half of the year, where more open cycle gas turbines were used extensively. According to the report, independent power producers contribute around 1 827MW to the grid when the system is constrained.
The company has undertaken a R280-billion expenditure programme over the next five years and building two coal-fired power plants.
“We anticipate to supply 100 per cent of electricity most days and 96 per cent during peak periods from 6am to 10am and 5pm to 10pm,” Molefe continued.
Molefe urged electricity users to continue using electricity sparingly to allow the power utility space to continue with the requisite maintenance. He said some maintenance would continue throughout the winter period, as has been the case since 2013.
