Eskom is by far the largest of South Africa’s many state owned companies. This near monopoly power utility is in crisis. It’s the single largest threat to South Africa’s economy, according to a former minister of finance. Wits Business School’s Adjunct Prof. Rod Crompton explains why this is the case and what can be done. […]
. New pressures on Eskom’s generation plant performance and energy availability factor (EAF) are making themselves felt at Medupi, Kusile and a number of other coal-fired power stations, as a key Eskom contractor and service provider runs into severe financial difficulties. It has been established that Clyde Bergemann Africa (CBZ) has been unable to pay […]
“ELB Engineering Services (ELB) turned to power and large industrial projects as the decline in commodity prices led to fewer capital projects in that sector”, says Dr Stephen Meijers, chief executive of ELB in an interview with Energize. It was recently announced that the ELB-KCC Consortium (consisting of ELB, KC Cottrell and the ELB Educational […]
Eskom has signed a US$1,5-billion (approximately R19,6-billion) loan agreement with the China Development Bank (CDB). This is the second such loan the power utility has negotiated with CDB, the first being for $500-million last year. The period over which these amounts may be drawn by Eskom is said to be five years, with a […]
The installation of a number of induced-draft (ID) fans ensure efficient and reliable operation at South Africa’s new large-scale coal-fired power plants, Medupi and Kusile. Ageing infrastructure and a lack of new power stations led to a steady reduction in reserve capacity in the South African electrical power grid, which led to forced shut […]
Our winning letter re: Renewable energy is an uneconomical source of energy Sir I think the CEO of Eskom has accurately described the renewable situation. Certain renewables, primarily wind and solar are in reality uneconomic as major baseload power suitable for industry and the all-important manufacturing and mining industries. In essence they are a failed […]
In order to understand and compare the cost of electricity from a power plant, whether it is coal-fired, nuclear, hydro, gas, wind or solar, one needs to look further than simply the capital, fuel or operating and maintenance costs in isolation, to a concept known as the “levelised cost of electricity” over the lifetime […]
Besides the financial results themselves for Eskom’s financial year ending 31 March 2016, perhaps the most important new information to come out at the media briefing at Megawatt Park on 5 July 2016, was Eskom’s latest estimate of the overnight capital costs, or cost to completion (CTC), for its Medupi and Kusile power stations. […]
Eskom will be investing about R5-million to refurbish the Marapong Community Health Centre facilities in the Lephalale Local Municipality in Limpopo. In August 2007 when construction of Medupi started the power utility agreed to not only build the Medupi power plant, but also to improve the lives of the communities in its footprint. The […]
Credit: This article is published with permission from Circle of Blue, the news and science center that reports on the competition between water, food, and energy globally. Conceived in the resource-rich, ecologically stable, and capital-abundant 20th century, South Africa’s two immense coal-fired Medupi and Kusile power stations were viewed as reasoned answers to South Africa’s growing demand for electricity, […]
