{"id":48060,"date":"2022-11-15T11:37:04","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T11:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricavoice.com\/?p=48060"},"modified":"2022-11-16T11:38:51","modified_gmt":"2022-11-16T11:38:51","slug":"generation-unit-breakdowns-costing-eskom-billions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricavoice.com\/generation-unit-breakdowns-costing-eskom-billions\/","title":{"rendered":"Generation unit breakdowns costing Eskom billions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eskom Chief Operations Officer Jan Oberholzer says the power utility has spent at least R12 billion over the past year on diesel in order to run its open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs).<\/p>\n

The OCGTs are the power utility\u2019s emergency generation units which have had to be used extensively during the past year due to the high number of breakdowns at coal fired power stations.<\/p>\n

Oberholzer was speaking during Eskom\u2019s State of the System media briefing on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to supply the demand of the country, we have to run our [OCGTs]\u2026extensively. We have invested in excess of R12 billion this year already burning diesel. Needless to say, Eskom has significant financial challenges as well. If we look at the load shedding that we currently have, it is also to address the scarce financial resources that we have. We do not have money to burn diesel anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look, you\u2019ll find municipalities owing [Eskom] R52 billion but on the other side, we are forced to burn diesel. We are depleting our cash reserves and we are finding ourselves at a very, very delicate position,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since January this year, South Africans have endured at least 155 days of load shedding due to some 468 trips at power stations.<\/p>\n

Oberholzer said the performance of the generation unit of the power utility \u2013 mainly coal fired power stations \u2013 has not been good enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are various reasons for that. But if you look at it, it is not good. This is why we do have load shedding in the country. The number of trips [of generation units] is way too big and this is something that we need to get a handle on.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year when we were talking about the number of trips, we were saying there\u2019s too many trips and this year we\u2019ve actually exceeded that. We really need to get our hands on this unreliability and unpredictability of some of the units at the power stations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Oberholzer said as a result of the unpredictability and unreliability of the power system added with major capital projects and repairs and maintenance, \u201cthe risk of continued load shedding remains quite high\u201d.<\/p>\n

The generation units expected to be taken offline maintenance and repairs include:<\/p>\n