Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan tasked the new board to increase Eskom’s energy availability factor to 75%.
According to Mark Swilling, Professor of Sustainable Development at the School of Public Leadership, the 75% EAF mandate is impossible to achieve in Eskom’s current position.
So far this year, Eskom recorded an average EAF of 59%, a decrease from 2021’s 62%. There has been a steady decline in generating capacity over the last few years.
There are several reasons why generational capacity is declining. However, the age of the power stations, internal sabotage, and unplanned breakdowns remain the most prominent.
According to Zakhele Madela, a Social and Energy Expert at South African Energy Forum, 75% is achievable, provided that staff at Eskom are given the necessary tools and resources needed to do their jobs.
He believes people like Swilling need the experience or expertise to suggest Eskom cannot meet this mandate, which they do not. When managers at the power stations and engineers say, it is possible to exceed the 75% EAF mandate.
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New Eskom Board
Last month Gordhan announced a new board at Eskom with Mpho Makwana at the helm.
Gordhan said, “The new Board brings broad experience, expertise and skills that will provide stability and strategic direction to the entity.”
“The Incoming board will need to deal with immediate current loadshedding issues, procurement, elimination of corruption and ensuring there is reliability of energy supply in the medium to long term.”
The new board is a welcomed sight to Madela, as it includes technically trained members. However, he criticised the CEO Andre De Ruyter, claiming he is hellbent on seeing Eskom fail.
Madela said, “The CEO [De Ruyter] is divorced from making Eskom run. He’s obsessed with renewable energy, Independent power producers. He wants to bring in the private sector [to help]. He’s completely resigned from getting Eskom to work.”
Renewable energy
This month De Ruyter announced Eskom signed contracts with four renewable energy companies. They stand set to build renewable energy facilities on land owned by the power utility.
The four companies are expected to be connected to the national grid within two years. They will contribute 2000MW of power to Eskom.
Madela states Eskom receives money from utility fees paid by the citizens, which are given to IPPs. The funds Eskom needs to fix the problems at the power stations are not being received, which is why we have to endure this energy crisis.
“There is not a country in the world that has reliable renewable [energy]. Even the countries that attempted this, [such as] Germany, had to humble themselves and come and get coal.”
“They did not go and get more renewables. They did not go and build better energy storage. The minute the gas supply was cut from Russia, they came for coal, they did not get more renewables. There’s not a single country out of all the countries in the entire planet that has relied on renewables.”
As enticing as the idea is of renewable energy, Madela maintains that renewables are not a viable and sustainable option to consider as they will not fully repair the electricity problems in the country.
