Less than 10 days to fix crisis – or risk blackout

WITH winter approaching and electricity demand expected to peak‚ the Gupta coal deals have come back to haunt Eskom once again‚ energy activist Ted Blom said.

Blom warned that Eskom had less than 10 days to implement drastic corrective measures or South Africa will face another blackout‚ which the country struggled with in 2008.

Blom‚ a partner at Mining and Energy Advisers‚ said that as the Gupta-owned Tegeta Exploration and Resources mines were now in business rescue‚ a good couple of billion rands would be required to restart operations.

“Given that the Optimum contract expires at the end of 2018‚ that is hardly likely to happen‚” he said in a statement.

According to Blom‚ Tegeta provided an estimated nominal nine million tons of coal per year into the Eskom supply chain‚ and with operations now closed‚ Eskom is short more than one million tons a month.

“Eskom management should have seen this train smash coming more than six months ago‚” Blom said.

Proper coal supplier management with accurate dashboards of coal availability per operation would have revealed the Tegeta supply as erratic and on a downward trend.

Furthermore‚ routine monthly mine visits by Eskom senior management should have shown the plant was scavenged‚ he said.

“This situation has been public knowledge for months‚ especially in mining circles.”

South Africa is running on the expensive open-cycle gas turbines which burn more than R1-billion of diesel per month and have been doing so since the beginning of the year‚ he said.

Whereas Eskom claims to have 30 days’ coal stockpiled‚ Blom said this included more than 10 million tons at Medupi – which is inaccessible to the Mpumalanga stations where the shortage exists.

On Monday‚ energy analyst Chris Yelland raised a red flag when he revealed reports about “alarming coal supply problems at numerous Eskom coal-fired power stations in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province”.

“Eskom has been relying on emergency‚ diesel-driven‚ open-cycle gas turbines regularly to meet demand this year.

“The latest coal supply reports suggest Eskom’s current coal supply problems are as serious‚ if not worse‚ than those that existed in South Africa shortly before the load-shedding of 2008‚” he wrote on the website ee publishers.

He said coal stockpiles were low at the Arnot‚ Camden‚ Hendrina‚ Komati‚ Kriel‚ Majuba and Tutuka power stations.

Eskom should have seen this train smash coming more than six months ago