Heavy Lifting

Published by Francois Heyns in Electricity · Monday 25 Jul 2022 · 3:30
Tags: ramaphosa, power, crises, plan, 10, point, plan, eskom, load, shedding

So finally after enduring many months of load shedding finally a word from government. The 10 point plan as follows curtousy of News 24:

A complete scrapping of licencing requirements for private energy projects that feed into the electricity grid. Until August 2021, all energy generation facilities of more than 1MW required a licence. Then, the cap was lifted to 100MW – which led to more than 80 private sector electricity projects with a combined planned capacity of over 6 000MW.
Over the next three months, Eskom will start to buy electricity from existing independent power producers. "These are power plants which built more capacity than was required and can now supply this excess power to Eskom," Ramaphosa said.
Eskom will import power from Botswana and Zambia, which have more electricity capacity than they require, Ramaphosa said.
Government departments will now take a "pragmatic approach" to the requirements to use locally manufactured inputs for green energy projects.
The amount of new generation capacity procured through Bid Window 6 for wind and solar power will be doubled from 2 600 MW to 5 200 MW. Further bid windows will be released "on an expedited basis".
Special legislation will be tabled in Parliament soon to address the legal and regulatory obstacles to new generation capacity "for a limited period". Ramaphosa says it currently takes almost 1 000 days to get a project from design to operation due to all the necessary regulatory approvals and red tape.
Eskom has been given the go-ahead to increase its budget over the next 12 months for critical maintenance. This is despite a debt burden of almost R400 billion. Ramaphosa said that National Treasury is working on a proposal to deal with Eskom’s debt, and this will be announced at the medium-term budget later this year.
Businesses and households will be encouraged to install rooftop solar and to connect this to grid.
Eskom will be constructing its first solar and battery storage projects at Komati, Majuba, Lethabo and several other power stations. These will result in over 500 MW being added to the system. Eskom will also use interim power solutions, such as mobile generators, to supplement current generation capacity for a limited period.
A National Energy Crisis Committee, which is chaired by the Director-General in the Presidency Phindile Baleni, has been established and brings together all the departments and entities involved in the provision of electricity. Ramaphosa said the ministers on the committee will report to him directly on a regular basis.

My immediate concerns are:

The announcement is timed with some politicing and I wonder how politics plays into the announcement.
The only reason load shedding didnt kick back in tonight was becuase of the announcement but mark my words by Wed load shedding is back in a big way.
That once again monies are being lent to Eskom for maintenance wheras I would have thought it would make sense for the committee that is being setup to okay partnerships or programs with private companies bypassing the ineffencencies built into Eskom. In my view th e moniues will end up in an even bigger black hole.
Whilst the introduction of a buy back of power is welcomed if the idea was to stimulate the economy and create jobs why nbot go the whole hog and introduce a rebate on new solar installations. Consumers are already hard hit and where does government expect the man in the street to come up with the funds toi install new systems. Maybe subsidised loans as with COVID should have been considered.

I guess time will tell, as for me I am not so sure that state capture and mismanagement are a thing of the past!

review

Paul Scott

Thursday 14 Mar 2024

Great article.