Page 10 - AfrElec Week 03 2021

AfrElec ESKOM AfrElec

Eskom warns of three

months of power cuts

SOUTH AFRICA ESKOM has warned that its current power cuts One at its 1,800-MW Koeberg NPP after leaks
are likely to continue for up to three months as were found in one of the steam generators.
scheduled maintenance as well as unplanned The company is meeting demand by using
outages create a supply deficit of up to 2,000 MW. pumped storage schemes, which are designed
Eskom said that power cuts, known as for peak periods, for baseload power generation
load-shedding, would happen on a weekly basis, as well.
even though demand has slumped because of the As well as struggling to patch up ageing power
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. plants, Eskom has debts of ZAR464bn ($30.6bn)
The company said in a recent status report Eskom is about to undergo widespread reforms
that its “likely risk scenario” would see a defi- These include splitting the company into gener-
cit of more than 2,001 MW over the next three ation, transmission and distribution units and
months. allowing private generators to enter the market.
Eskom also said that even if there were few The company is also having to juggle sudden
unplanned outages, what it calls the “planned outages with its ongoing maintenance sched-
risk level”, it still expects shortages 50% of the ule, which aims to undertake overdue repairs at
time. It could also fail to meet demand the rest many elderly coal-fired power plants.
of the time too. Summer usually sees peak demand loads, and
Over the past week there have been continued Eskom is confident that the risk of power cuts
power cuts, with up to 2,000 MW of generating will be significantly reduced by September.
capacity unexpectedly offline. This includes However, the company has warned cus-
units at the flagship Kusile power plant and even tomers that its system remains vulnerable and
the Koeberg nuclear power plant (NPP) near unpredictable, urging the public to reduce
Cape Town, which is usually seen as a reliable electricity consumption to help it minimise
baseload supplier. load-shedding.™
At the start of January, Eskom closed Unit
FUELS

Botswana downplays risk of fuel shortages

BOTSWANA MMETIA Masire, the permanent secretary local fuel market to monitor supply conditions.
of Botswana’s Ministry of Mineral Resources, The government is ready to take measures to
Green Technology and Energy Security, said address shortages, including withdrawals from
last week that he did not expect developments in strategic petroleum product stocks, he declared.
South Africa’s downstream sector to lead to fuel He cautioned, though, that inventory draws
shortages in his own country. would only be considered if supply shortfalls
In a ministry press release, Masire noted became serious.
that two of South Africa’s four oil refineries had In the meantime, he said, the government is
halted production within the last year because of urging consumers to avoid hoarding and panic
accidents. These shutdowns have had an effect buying.
on the volume of South African petroleum prod- Masire was speaking not long after Citac, a
ucts delivered to Botswana, he acknowledged. UK-based consultancy that monitors Africa’s
He also stressed, though, that Botswana Oil Ltd downstream sector, said it did not expect to
(BOL), the national oil company (NOC), was see the idle South African refineries return to
working to make up for this shift by importing full capacity until 2022. These two plants, Citac
more fuel from Namibia and Mozambique. noted, account for 43% of the country’s total
This strategy appears to be effective, the refining capacity of about 500,000 bpd. It was
permanent secretary said. “South Africa has referring to the 120,000 barrel per day (bpd) bpd
reduced its ration of fuel supply to the southern facility owned by Engen Holdings, an affiliate of
African countries by almost 40% due to the clo- Malaysia’s Petronas, in Durban and the 100,000
sure of some its refineries,” he was quoted as say- bpd refinery in Cape Town owned by Astron
ing in the press release. “Nevertheless, currently Energy, a unit of the Anglo-Swiss commodities
all our filling stations throughout the country trading firm Glencore.
still [have] sufficient fuel supply.” Botswana has traditionally been dependent
He further stated that his ministry was work- on South Africa for most of its petroleum prod-
ing closely with BOL and other players in the uct supplies.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 03 21•January•2021