Page 3 - Energize October 2022

FROM THE EDITOR:

To dream the impossible dream

by Roger Lilley, Now Media

skom has a new board. The minister of Public – meaning a move away from coal-fired power generation
Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, has announced the to low-carbon generation technologies – means that some
Enames of twelve people as non-executive directors to of the old, unreliable power stations will have to be shut
form the new board. The board of Eskom is appointed by down or modified to use cleaner fuel sources.
the minister and is constituted for a period of three years. To tackle all these challenges simultaneously makes
The minister has given the board a daunting challenge: the task almost impossible. Frankly, the challenges are
to return the power utility’s overall energy availability so great as to be virtually insurmountable. The task given
factor (EAF) to 75%. Since this board has been constituted this board reminds me of the lyrics of an old song: “To
for a period of three years, we assume that the EAF must dream the impossible dream; to fight the unbeatable foe;
be back to 75% within that time frame. to bear with unbearable sorrow; and to run where the
This, in the face of many technical and non-technical brave dare not go.”
challenges. One wonders how Eskom’s new board will solve And that will be the board’s quest – to achieve the
the power utility’s many challenges. impossible dream. And hopefully they realise that their
Firstly, the poorly maintained – perhaps we should efforts will be without public support or encouragement
say neglected – power generating equipment has become because after almost 15 years of load shedding, most
so unreliable that it is unpredictable. More often than South Africans are highly critical of Eskom. Most South
not, when we receive notification of the need for load Africans have had to endure two or three two-hour (or
shedding, we are told that the number of MWs lost due longer) outages every day for most of September. Most
to unexpected breakdowns (which Eskom refers to as doubt that load shedding will ever end.
‘Units which need unplanned maintenance’) is double or Fortunately, Mpho Makwana, the chairman of Eskom’s
triple the amount lost through units being taken offline for new board, will have the support of a team of people with
planned maintenance. How the new board will address this a range of experience and qualifications, from accountants
problem remains to be seen. and engineers to advisers and management experts.
Furthermore, the new board will face other challenges Perhaps the trade unionist, Bheki Ntshalintshali, also a
too including acts of sabotage, dissatisfied staff, non- new board member, will be able to solve the personnel
payment by municipalities and end-users, increasing challenges.
primary energy costs, insufficient diesel at peaking plants, The minister kept Rod Crompton, who served on the
as well as internal and external corruption and dishonesty previous board “to ensure continuity”.
which still haunt the utility. A low EAF, especially when it results in load shedding,
Then there’s the excessive debt load of around R400- is a big problem. Mineral Resources and Energy Minister,
billion, plus the ballooning cost of the upgrade to Unit 2 Gwede Mantashe, said recently that load shedding is bad
at the Koeberg nuclear power station which was originally for the mining sector. He’s right. It’s bad for the whole
given as R20-billion, but has since been estimated to be economy. Load shedding and other factors over the years,
ten times that amount given the significantly weaker rand, have resulted in current data from Stats SA showing that
inflation, and additional scope of work needed. employment decreased by nearly 120 000 jobs in the first
To complicate matters further, the power utility is in the half of 2022. One shudders to think what the figure will
process of being restructured into three separate entities look like for the second half of the year.
– Eskom Transmission, Eskom Generation, and Eskom This new board, together with CEO André de Ruyter,
Distribution – all to be wholly owned by Eskom Holdings. COO Jan Oberholzer and CFO Calib Cassim, who are
This board will have to oversee the restructuring of executive directors and will remain in their roles, face
the utility while trying to improve the EAF, satisfy unhappy very serious challenges. We wish them all, as well as all
staff, address outstanding arrear debt, and address and the operating personnel, every success as they attempt
reduce Eskom’s debt. to achieve what many people now believe to be the
At the same time, the call for a Just Energy Transition impossible dream – an end to load shedding.

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