Page 15 - AfrElec Week 46 2022

AfrElec ESKOM AfrElec

Eskom head of

generation resigns

SOUTH AFRICA THE head of generation at Eskom, South Afri- “When [Mathebula] tabled his resignation,
ca’s power utility, has resigned from the crisis-hit he said the demand for the job was untenable
entity, as the unit continues to perform below and it impacted his health and family time,”
par, local publication News24 reports. Oberholzer said, as quoted by News24. “We
Eskom has failed to reach targets to improve need to understand the demand of this role and
output from the plants, its chief operating officer, the demand on the head of generation in turning
Jan Oberholzer, said in a presentation on Tues- this around.”
day (November 15), during which he announced Eskom is under fire for failing to generate
Rhulani Mathebula’s resignation with immediate enough electricity to meet demand. Due to the
effect. power shortage, the entity enforces a power use
Mathebula assumed the position only six management arrangement (“load shedding”)
months ago and was still working in an acting that leaves many areas without power for as long
capacity. He had replaced Phillip Dukashe, as 10 hours daily.
who resigned citing the need to maintain his It generates an average 20,000MW out of its
mental and physical health, which he said were nameplate capacity of about 40,000MW. Eskom’s
threatened by the high-pressure job. Mathebula aged, mostly coal-burning fleet, coupled with
also cited health reasons in his resignation let- vandalism of generation, transmission and dis-
ter. Eskom has appointed Thomas Conradie as tribution infrastructure, has impacted its ability
Mathebula’s replacement. to meet demand since 2007. ™

Liberia’s LEC loses

$48mn to power theft

LIBERIA THE Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) Agreement (PPA) with CI Energies of Côte
loses $48mn to power theft annually, its acting d’Ivoire to supply 27MW of electricity. Under
chief executive, Monie Captan has announced, the long-term supply deal, power will be trans-
threatening to dismiss employees and contrac- mitted through the CLSG Transmission line as
tors found to be somehow involved, The New of December 1.
Dawn reports. Also a party to the agreement is Compagnie
“As we speak, the LEC is losing nearly 50% Ivoirienne d’Electricité (CIE), a private com-
of its electricity [production], amounting to over pany that operates and maintains, on behalf
$48mn annually to power theft,” is quoted as of CI Energies, a vertically integrated business
saying at the launch of an anti-power theft cam- combining the national transmission and distri-
paign held at the company’s head office last week. bution networks and hydro generation plants.
“There are some bad apples among the good The 1,350-km power transmission line,
ones and we will wield out the bad ones,” he said, which carries 225kv, runs through the CLSG/
calling on the public to report LEC personnel Transco grid network connecting Liberia
who may be involved in the theft. and Côte d’Ivoire, as well as Sierra Leone and
Meanwhile, Captan noted that the LEC last Guinea.™
month signed a three-year Power Purchase

Week 46 16•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P15