‘Baker’ Brian’s Eskom runs short of coal
More than half of Eskom’s power stations are facing coal supply shortages, leaving the utility with little room for error as it struggles to replenish its coal stocks as fast as it burns them.
Out of a total of 15 coal power stations, eight have less than 20 days’ supply of coal and, of those, four have less than 10 days. Minimum stock levels are supposed to be at least 20 days.
The power utility said it was doing everything possible to deal with the coal crisis but the risk of load shedding “always exists”. It partly blames the failure of the Guptaowned coal mines, controlled by Tegeta Exploration and Resources, for the supply shortfalls. Eskom said the decline in its coal stock levels was “aggravated” by the Tegeta coal mines going under business rescue, and hence not being able to supply coal to its Hendrina, Komati and Majuba power stations in Mpumalanga since February.
“To manage the situation at Tegeta … Eskom had to transfer coal away from stations with healthy stock levels,” said the utility.
Meridian Economics director Grové Steyn said factors such as rain and strikes now pose a serious threat should Eskom not be able to obtain coal for a week or so. “Then you are going to get close to a huge problem,” he said. “If we do have shortages and the power stations can’t produce enough electricity, it will result in load shedding.” In a slide presentation to Parliament’s portfolio committees on energy and public enterprises in August, Eskom said the rainy season would exacerbate the coal shortages. But its technology and primary energy technical departments had rain-readiness assessments under way at its power stations and mines.
Steyn said the problem was more than Tegeta not supplying Eskom with coal. Normally, there would have been capacity to fill the gap from other mines, but Eskom and government’s policy not to invest in long-term coal supply during former president Jacob Zuma’s era had placed Eskom in a coal cliff situation.
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