Union takes on Eskom

PROTEST: SHUTTING DOWN FIVE POWER STATIONS COST 30 000 JOBS

The decision about renewable energy is already taken without Num’s involvement.

The National Union of Mineworkers (Num) said yesterday it would embark on a national protest against the planned closure of Eskom power stations, accusing the power utility of sidelining it in reaching the decision to uplift renewable energy.

Eskom is preparing to shut down five power stations in a bid to boost renewable energy and support independent power producers (IPPs). The power stations to be shut down are Hendrina, Kriel, Komati, Grootvlei and Camden in Mpumalanga.

Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe confirmed that the power supplier had already begun a phased-out process to decommission the power stations over the next 10 years in a bid to reduce greenhouse carbon emissions through renewable energy.

Phasiwe said Eskom was in the process of registering more renewables and was signing contracts with companies to produce and supply 4 000Mw to the national grid.

“Eskom trucks supply 40 million tons of coal to the power stations. We have already reduced that demand by three million tons. It will be further reduced to 15.6 million tons over the next five years,” Phasiwe said.

Hundreds of truck drivers contracted to Eskom blocked various highways in Pretoria last week in protest against the power utility’s decision to make use of more renewable energy, instead of coal.

The Coal Transportation Forum said 30 000 employees working for Eskom would be out of jobs if the five power stations were closed down.

In a statement, Num said that the decision to source more renewable energy from IPPs was to “effectively privatise Eskom”.

“The Num has noted that the decision is already taken without our involvement to partly privatise Eskom.

“We view the entrance or the inclusion of IPP to the energy sphere as privatisation brought to Eskom through the back door,” Num said.

“As much as we support green energy, we cannot ignore scientific facts that green energy is not as cheap as it is portrayed by the cap- italists who are dealing with it.”

Eskom generates, transmits and distributes about 95% of the electricity used in South Africa and approximately 45% of the electricity used in Africa, mostly using coal.

Phasiwe said the unions were part of Eskom stakeholders and would be consulted about the decision, but unfortunately the power supplier was taken over by last week’s events.

He said Eskom, at this moment, could not avoid the chain reaction that would result from the closure of its power stations.

“Unfortunately, it will have a ripple effect in coal suppliers if there is no demand from Eskom.

“We don’t close down power stations because we want to. We are implementing a directive to give more renewables to diversify our energy mix. We are implementing a government policy,” Phasiwe said.

The protest will begin as soon as possible, according to the union. – ANA

As much as we support green energy, we cannot ignore scientific facts that green energy is not as cheap as it is portrayed by the capitalists who are dealing with it.

The National Union of Mineworkers