Page 43 - Energize June 2022

VIEWS AND OPINION

SA needs a national priority project to deal

with load shedding – now

by Chris Yelland CEng, EE Business Intelligence

outh Africa has been experiencing
load shedding intermittently for 15
Syears since 2007. In recent years,
the hours and energy lost to load shedding
(Figures 2 and 3) has been steadily
increasing, whilst the energy availability
factor of Eskom’s generation fleet (Figure
1) has been steadily worsening. The trend
continues in 2022.
The impact of load shedding on
the economy of South Africa has
been devastating, contributing to low
GDP growth and increasing levels of
unemployment and poverty. The public
and customers of electricity are tired of
hearing about why we are having load
shedding, and instead want to hear about
how we as a country are going to end load
shedding, and fast.
It is quite clear that Eskom is unable to Figure 1: Energy shed from 2014 to 2021 (CSIR Energy Centre)
deal with this matter on its own through
increased maintenance or delaying of the Eskom chairman, board and workforce, as well as the committed support of the
the decommissioning of old, poorly new, democratically elected government of South Africa. In this project, under McRae’s
performing coal-fired power stations. stewardship, the word “problem” by Eskom people was not permitted or tolerated by the
However, feelings of helplessness in the project team. Only potential solutions were allowed to be heard.
face of load shedding are completely With the full support of government, municipalities and electricity customers, the
unwarranted.

Solutions are available
There are indeed solutions available to
end load shedding relatively soon, and at
relatively low cost to Eskom and the fiscus.
It is clear that load shedding in South
Africa has become a national crisis,
requiring a properly coordinated “Marshall
Plan”, pulling in all affected stakeholders
to become part of the solution. Failure
to attend to the load shedding crisis
could turn this national emergency into
a national disaster – in the worst-case
scenario, a national blackout with all its
consequences.
In the 1990s, the then Eskom CEO,
Dr Ian McRae, conceived and initiated a
similar national priority plan under the
slogan: “Electricity for All”. The project
received the overwhelming support Figure 2: Hours of load shedding from 2014 to 2021 (CSIR Energy Centre)

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