Eskom ramps up load-shedding – Moneyweb

Eskom has announced that it will increase load shedding this week due to a delay in returning nine generating units to service.

Eskom said it will implement Stage 4 load shedding — in which 4,000 megawatts is removed from the grid to prevent its collapse — from 05:00 on Tuesday, then 6 000 megawatts will be cut from 16:00.

Image: Bloomberg

Eskom shortlists five CEO candidates

Eskom’s has board shortlisted five candidates for the position of chief executive officer, according to the chairman of the beleaguered power utility.

The entity was scheduled to meet last Monday to start the process of choosing a leader to run the utility, Eskom chairman Mpho Makwana, said at an event broadcast online. He didn’t indicate when the board expects to complete the process. Calib Cassim, who served as Eskom’s chief financial officer, took over as interim CEO in February after Andre de Ruyter left the role after accusing state officials of theft and corruption.

The EAF, or amount of capacity producing power, has been declining every year since 2017, according to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. It has fallen below 50% as Eskom implements record power cuts.

South Africa’s plan to re-examine the time-frame and the process of decommissioning or mothballing coal-fired power plants to address the electricity crisis won’t reverse its position on the just energy transition, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a recent weekly newsletter.

“Any decision on decommissioning will be informed by a detailed technical assessment of the feasibility of continuing to operate older plants. It will also be informed by the time-frame in which we can expect new capacity from other energy sources and the impact on our decarbonisation trajectory,” Ramaphosa said.

South Africa remained committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 2030 to within a target range that, at its upper level, is compatible with limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C (34.7F), he said.

No end to power cuts this year 

South Africa will be unable to stop crippling power cuts before the end of 2023, according to Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.

“It is not technically possible for us to end load shedding by the end of the calendar year,” Ramokgopa earlier told Johannesburg-based broadcaster eNCA. However, he later said in response to media questions that the government would “do everything possible to ensure that its intensity is not as severe, so that we get the South African economy going”.

Ramokgopa said plans over the next six months to limit power cuts includes reducing infrastructure sabotage at Eskom, buying about 30 billion rand ($1.7 billion) of diesel for the utility’s open-cycle turbines, improving the efficiency of under-performing power stations and less maintenance work, especially during peak periods.