Johannesburg - As the country grapples with ongoing rolling blackouts, President Cyril Ramaphosa has told South Africans that short-term pain is worth long-term gain.
Minister of Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the current Stage 6 load shedding the country is experiencing is due to power utility Eskom’s failure to adhere to its planned maintenance schedule.
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— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) September 4, 2023
Stage 6 loadshedding will be implemented from 05:00 on Tuesday until further notice pic.twitter.com/S9rxax7fXD
Ramokgopa provided an update on the performance of the electricity grid yesterday as the country plunged into Stage 6 load shedding, which the power utility said would last until the end of this week.
Ramaphosa said Eskom had to take these measures now to permanently eradicate power cuts.
“This load shedding is occasioned by what Eskom is having to do to reposition the generation of our fleet; they are maintaining our fleet. They are making sure that incidents of load shedding that have been given rise to in the past as a result of unplanned load shedding events where there were breakdowns are put behind us. So this, as much as it is stage 6, is of a short-term nature. The Minister of Electricity has briefed me thoroughly on all the processes that Eskom is going through. So there is short-term pain for long-term gain,” said Ramaphosa.
"We are obviously worried whenever there is load shedding, but as you go through this process now, we must see it in a positive light because in the long term, these are things that we have to do to make sure that we say goodbye to load shedding.“
Sicelo Xulu, the former City Power CEO and current chairperson of the board, said the briefing from the minister painted a very difficult picture.
“The breakdowns of the coal fleet are still too high; the other worrying factor is the high partial load losses. The combination of the two takes away a huge capacity from the grid, which leads to higher stages of load shedding to protect the integrity of the grid," said Xulu.
He said the South African National Energy Development Institute’s position is that the President’s Energy Action Plan needs to be fully implemented with oversight from the Minister of Electricity.
“We are of the view that the government must make money available for the implementation of the energy action plan. The Minister of Electricity must establish a Project Management Office and have it capacitated to manage the implementation of the energy action plan. The money that Eskom needs to fix the coal fleet must be made available as an equity injection by the government, but it should be managed by the Project Management Office outside Eskom with the Minister of Electricity providing oversight,” said Xulu.
He said the project management office must deploy teams to track the milestones and deliverables by various implementing parties such as NECOM, Eskom and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy. Where there is a lack of progress, the project management office must work with the respective entities to develop remedial actions.
“Sanedi stands ready to assist the government with the establishment of the Project Management Office, and we are already engaging the various parties involved, including the Minister of Electricity. Our view is that the Minister should detach himself from Eskom and focus on the implementation of the energy action plan through the Project Management Office. That way he can provide political oversight properly as opposed to when he seems to be directly involved at Eskom, like it's happening now,” said Xulu.
The Star