Page 3 - Energize August 2022

FROM THE EDITOR:

Christmas in July?

by Roger Lilley, Now Media

s I look back over the month of July, I feel as though we have just emerged from a started asking “why” again. It seems that
“silly season”, which I’ll call “Christmas in July”. It all began on or around 7 July when some believed that because the president
AEskom started implementing Stage 4 load shedding frequently. It became steadily had outlined the plan, and load shedding
worse until Stage 6 was implemented, with most people being subjected to two (or more) had been temporarily suspended, load
hours of load shedding three times a day. shedding was finally behind us.
The cold weather, ongoing breakdowns of Eskom’s generating equipment, and late But the plan must first be
return-to-service of equipment was blamed. The power utility’s CEO also said that sabotage implemented. The root causes of load
was a contributor to the load shedding. shedding – ageing, unreliable generation
Although South Africans have had to endure load shedding since 2008, by 2022 the equipment, difficulties in getting spare
public and the media were saying “enough is enough” and started calling ever more loudly parts for older machines, and insufficient
on Pravin Gordhan, the minister of public enterprises (DPE), who is responsible for Eskom, overall capacity to allow in-depth,
and Gwede Mantashe, the minister of mineral resources and energy (DMRE), who is long-term repair work to be undertaken
responsible for the provision of electricity, to take decisive action to reduce load shedding. – remain Eskom’s challenges and will
Christmas is often referred to as the “silly season”. It is commonly accompanied by a continue to be so until new reliable
higher than usual number of social engagements and family gatherings; and often includes generation capacity is made available and
excessive consumption of food and alcohol. Also, more gifts are given over the Christmas comes on line.
season than at any other time during the year. People often overspend at Christmas and Many, if not most of Eskom’s old,
then regret it in January. It’s the time when people get silly. unreliable electricity generating units will
The silliness in July 2022 reached its zenith when, in response to Gordhan’s public call need to be decommissioned permanently
for the DMRE to “cut the red tape” to make it easier to get additional generating capacity on or be repurposed with modern equipment.
the grid , Mantashe announced that another Eskom, which he called Eskom 2.0, would be It was therefore with great joy and
established. Naturally, this new entity would be a state-owned enterprise, like the existing a sense of relief that we heard that
Eskom, and would become Gordhan’s responsibility. Eskom was in talks with the Netherlands
Mantashe’s comment was a bit of light-hearted “tit-for-tat” between the two men, but government regarding the repurposing
many people took it literally, including Mmamoloko Kubayi, the chair of the ruling party’s of one of Eskom’s oldest power stations,
economic transformation body, and the country’s president seemingly, who presented the Grootvlei. This power station had
motion to the SA Communist Party’s elective conference. Even members of the media and been selected, Eskom says, because
the public started asking questions and making bizarre statements about the formation of of its repurposing potential, strategic
Eskom 2.0. location (proximity to the industrial hub,
Fortunately, common sense has prevailed, and like a Christmas present to the nation, the Gauteng) and accessibility (along the N3
president, on 25 July, announced, in a televised address to the nation, sweeping changes to highway). The power utility says that the
the electricity regulations to address the shortage of electricity generation. repurposing of this power station is part
of Eskom’s overall Just Energy Transition
He listed five action points: (JET) strategy, which seeks to upgrade
• To improve the performance of Eskom generation units and improve air quality
• To accelerate the procurement of new generation capacity by decreasing the amount of pollution
• To “massively” increase private investment in generation capacity emitted by these power stations, without
• To enable businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar PV jeopardising jobs in the process.
• To “fundamentally” transform the electricity sector so that private individuals could sell Hopefully the silly season is over,
surplus power to Eskom and the authorities will start working to
implement what the president said would
We started the month in despair with ever-deepening stages of load shedding and ended it happen in his address to the nation. We
on a high following the president’s promises of a better and brighter (pun intended) future. look forward to the day when we can
Following the president’s speech, the country experienced a week without load finally say with assuredness that load
shedding. But when, in the first few days of August, load shedding was reintroduced, people shedding is in the past.

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