During Eskom's quarterly state of the system briefing on Thursday, the power utility's officials said that load shedding will likely persist in the near future as plants undergo much-needed reliability maintenance.
Both stage 1 and stage 2 load shedding are expected. The majority of coal-fired power stations are past the midway of their operational life - which has resulted in huge amounts of breakdowns, this has warranted reliability maintenance and refurbishment projects up until the winter of 2021.
Chief Operations Officer Jan Oberholzer constantly expressed that his colleagues were doing a "sterling job" despite the circumstances. He also stressed that with generation being challenged, it was equally important to strengthen and extend the transmission system - a loss to the transmission network would be "disasterous" for South Africans, he said.
To make do with reduced capacity, Eskom has also had to resort to using Open Cycle Gas Turbines which run on a diesel- a huge expense. As a result, Eskom has overshot its budget by R800 million, the target is R561 million.
Responding to questions on debt, CEO Andre De Ruyter noted that with the unbundling of the power utility into three entities, it is envisioned that the bulk of debt would be carried by the generation entity, and the transmission and distribution entities would each carry a quarter. Eskom is however mindful of debt covenants and the decision would need to ensure Eskom does not default.
De Ruyter also noted that green financiers were ready to provide financing to support Eskom's just energy transition - to include renewable energy. The move would not only respond to climate justice concerns but would also make more business sense as the cost of renewable technologies has decreased substantially. A possibility of concessionary financing is on the cards - on the condition that Eskom decarbonise. The appointment of financial advisers is being finalised to assist in this regard.
"load" - Google News
October 22, 2020 at 02:56PM
https://ift.tt/3ojStMI
WRAP | Expect more load shedding, Eskom warns | Fin24 - News24
"load" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2SURvcJ
https://ift.tt/3bWWEYd
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "WRAP | Expect more load shedding, Eskom warns | Fin24 - News24"
Post a Comment