While the construction of Eskom’s three new power stations has captured public attention, a vital part of the new-build programme has gone almost unnoticed – the huge project to strengthen the country’s national grid as these new plants are linked to the network. In addition to linking up the giant coal-fired plants, Medupi and […]
by Chris Yelland, investigative editor, EE Publishers With former Eskom CEO Brian Dames’ recent resignation, Eskom must now face enormous problems led by an acting CEO with no direct experience of running a major state-owned enterprise or a business the size of Eskom, or of managing projects with the size and technical complexity of […]
by Jac Messerschmidt, Pr. Eng. The slogan “electricity for all” was first used in 1988, and in the same year the first electrification joint venture was created in the Eastern Cape. Over the next twenty-five years, this initiative grew to bring electricity to more than 6-million homes, schools and clinics. Initially, the focus was […]
The emergence of independent power producers and distributed generation has resulted in the need for transporting electricity between producer and consumer over a network owned by a third party. These arrangements can be simple or complex, depending on the network, and require well developed rules and regulations to operate properly. Download the PDF
African Utility Week, which will take place at the CTICC in Cape Town on 13 and 14 May, has a strong focus on large power users in Africa, helping them to reduce costs while increasing productivity through energy and water efficiency solutions. The exihibition floor will host two days of free, practical, CPD-accredited technical […]
Electricity supply constraints are a significant hurdle to future growth, but a regional approach using market mechanisms will go a long way to addressing electricity shortfalls and to reduce expenditure on wasteful projects, to the benefit of electricity consumers and economies in the whole region. Despite all the efforts, Africa’s quest for unity has […]
Koeberg Unit 2 was shut down for its 20th refuelling outage on 24 March 2014, having been online for 484 days since 25 November 2012. This bettered Unit 1’s record of 454 days of uninterrupted operation set between June 2000 and September 2001. This is also the first time in Koeberg’s history that one […]
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS), has launched Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Africa (MHPSA) in South Africa. The South African business of Hitachi Power Africa (HPA), primarily the Medupi and Kusile power station projects, has been transferred to MHPSA. This is as a consequence of the conclusion […]
A leak in a boiler pipe at Eskom’s Duvha power station on 30 March 2014 has resulted in the loss one of its 600 MW generators. This is the same power station which suffered a conveyor belt failure in December 2013, depriving the boilers of coal, with a subsequent loss of generation output, which forced […]
Eustace Davie, speaking at a media briefing at the Free Market Foundation recently, said that the IRP 2010 – 2030 update plan heralds a potential disaster and an exercise in speculative central planning. He says that the key problems are a lack of an independent transmission grid, no independent distribution grids, no competing generating […]
