Eskom

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Eskom

logo
legal form Public company , SOC
founding March 1, 1923
Seat Sandton , South Africa
management Andre de Ruyter
Number of employees 39,222 (2010)
sales 69.9 billion rand (2010)
Branch energy
Website www.eskom.co.za

Eskom ( Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. ) is a South African power company that was founded in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission ( ESCOM ), it is also known by its Afrikaans-language name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie ( EVKOM ). The founding was put on a national legal basis by the South African government in 1922 with the Electricity Act ( Act No. 42 of 1922 ) and announced retrospectively on March 6, 1923 in the Government Gazette . The company is wholly owned by the state and controlled by the Department of Public Enterprises .

Andre de Ruyter has been CEO of Eskom since mid-November 2019 .

overview

The company is the largest electricity producer in Africa and the seventh largest electricity producer in the world, if you consider the installed capacity by power plants, the ninth largest in the world in terms of turnover. In 2007 Eskom was the second largest CO 2 producer in the world with over 190 million tons .

Eskom operates several large power plants, including the Kendal power plant , which is the largest coal-fired power plant in the world by output , and the Koeberg nuclear power plant , the only nuclear power plant on the African continent. Eskom also operates the HVDC Cahora Bassa , a high-voltage direct current transmission line between the Cahora Bassa dam in Mozambique and the industrial conurbation between Johannesburg and Pretoria .

In November 2016, CEO Brian Molefe resigned due to his involvement in the state capture affair with effect from the end of the year. Eskom is accused of illegally favoring the politically and economically influential Gupta family . Eskom reportedly paid over € 40 million to the Gupta company to acquire a coal mine.

During his 2019 State of the Union Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the division of Eskom into three separate entities (generation, transmission and distribution). In February 2019 around 419 billion of debt was Eskom margin (around 26 billion euros); the debts were seen as threatening their very existence. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced in the same month the payment of 69 billion rand as a bailout of the company. In July an additional R59 billion was pledged over two years.

Power plants

Hard coal

Arnot power station
Kendal power station
Matimba power plant
Surname built Generators MW (nominal) Gross MW Net MW Vapor pressure in MPa Steam temperature in ° C
Arnot power station 3 1975 6th 350 2100 1980 15.9 510
Camden Power Plant 4 1969 8th 200 1600 1520 2 10.3 538
Duvha power plant 3 1984 6th 600 3600 3450 16.1 535
Grootvlei 4 power station 1977 6th 200 1200 1130 2 10.3 538
Hendrina power plant 3 1977 10 200 2000 1895 1 10.3 538
Kendal 3.5 power station 1993 6th 686 4116 3840 16.1 535
Komati 4 power plant 1966 5
4		 100
125		 500
500		 891 2 8.4 510
Kriel power station 3 1979 6th 500 3000 2850 16.0 510
Lethabo power plant 3 1990 6th 618 3708 3558 16.1 535
Majuba power plant  
2001		 3
3		 657
713		 1971
2139		  
3843
Matimba 3.5 power plant 1981 6th 665 3990 3690 16.1 535
Matla 3 power plant 1983 6th 600 3600 3450 16.1 535
Medupi power plant 2015-2017 6th 800 4800 4560
Tutuka Power Plant 3 1990 6th 609 3654 3510 16.1 535

Nuclear power plant

Koeberg nuclear power plant
Surname built Generators MW (nominal) Gross MW Net MW
Koeberg nuclear power plant 3 1985 2 965 1930 1800 1

Hydropower plants

Gariep Dam
Surname built Generators MW (nominal) Gross MW Net MW
Gariep 7 1976 4th 90 360 360
Vanderkloof 7 1977 2 120 240 240
Colly Wobbles 3 14th 42 42
First falls 2 3 6th 6th
Ncora 2
1		 0.4
1.3		 1
1		  
2
Second falls 2 5.5 11 11

Storage power plants

Surname built Generators MW (nominal) Gross MW Net MW
Drakensberg 1982 4th 250 1000 1000
Palmiet 1988 2 200 400 400

Gas turbines

Surname built Generators MW (nominal) Gross MW Net MW
Acacia 1976 3 57 171 171
Port Rex 1976 3 57 171 171
Gourikwa 2007 3 148 444 ?
Gourikwa 2008 2 148 296 ?
Ankerlig power plant 2006 9 ≈150 1338 ?

Wind power

Surname built Generators MW (nominal) Gross MW Net MW status
Klipheuwel 2003 3 0.66-1.75 3.2 3.2 experimental
Sere wind farm 2015

Planned power plants

Kusile power station
Surname Generators MW (nominal) Gross MW Net MW status
Nuclear 2 ( Western Cape , near Koeberg) unknown unknown unknown unknown Nuclear cooperation agreed with Russia
Hard coal 6th 700 4200 3942 unknown
Kusile 6th 800 4800 4560 under construction
Ingula (pumped storage power plant) 4th 333 1330 1330 under construction

So far, little information has become known about the considerations regarding possible locations of future nuclear power plants. Five local location considerations are mentioned in a report by Daily Maverick : Thyspunt near St. Francis Bay in Eastern Cape , Duynefontein near Cape Town , Schulpfontein and Brazil on the Atlantic coast of the Northern Cape province not far from Springbok, and Bantamsklip between Hermanus and Cape Agulhas in the Western province Cape . The main legislative basis is formed by two laws from 1999, the Nuclear Energy Act and the National Nuclear Regulator Act .

Power cuts

Although Eskom began further power plant planning in 2005, the first major power outages occurred in the country in 2007. In the spring of 2008, the largest electricity provider in Africa could not generate enough electricity. According to discussions, this is due to the planning of the South African government, which would not have considered it important enough to support Eskom with investments earlier. Because there was not enough electricity available, it was rationed at various intervals and nationwide zones, which led to daily power outages ( load shedding ) from 2007 to March 2008 .

Eskom had already committed mining companies in the country to save around 10% of their own energy requirements. Mining could then no longer work effectively and a drop of around 20% in production was expected, because 50% of the energy is already required to maintain this infrastructure. The rest was used for the promotion itself. So a saving of 10% in electricity consumption means a loss of 20% in the subsidy. This was the conclusion of a radio debate ( Classic-FM , South Africa) on February 26, 2008. A short-term solution is not in sight and there will still be power supply problems until around 2012.

Paradoxically, however, Eskom had signed a contract with neighboring countries Botswana and Mozambique in January 2008 to deliver at least 1040 MW of energy.

Eskom tried in the meantime to make up for the lack of energy with additional diesel generators. That cost the company an estimated R22.8 billion in 2013-14 , which had a negative impact on the utility's cash flow and operations. In 2015 there were again noticeable blackouts in the nationwide supply network. There were also regular power cuts in the following years, including 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019 and 2020.

The cyclone Idai in March 2019 has enabled the country's already tense situation to Power South Africa in a very threatening situation. Due to the storm-related business interruption of the HVDC Cahora Bassa , an important volume of feed-in into the South African grid, which was put at 1150 megawatts, was lost. Eskom called on its customers to be extremely economical in their electrical energy consumption; it came to the abrupt drop in the amount of energy available to a consecutive load shedding -Crisis ( load shedding ). Andrew Etzinger, Eskom's head for energy generation, explained that with phase 4, from phase 2 previously, the need for load shedding had arisen and that the stage now reached would be the last possibility to control the nationwide energy supply crisis. Under these circumstances, there is a risk that the national supply network will collapse and that regional power failures can therefore be initiated at any time without prior warning. Such a critical situation had not occurred in South Africa since 2008.

Web links

Commons : Eskom  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Eskom: ESCOM 1923 - 1929 - The Years of Establishment - "Electrifying our beloved country" . on www.eskom.co.za (English)
  2. ↑ a b Key facts: Eskom Holding Limited, Integrated Report 2010 ( English ) In: financialresults.co.za . November 3, 2010. Retrieved December 27, 2010.
  3. ↑ LegalB: South Africa National Legislation Index 1922 . on www.legalb.co.za (English)
  4. ^ Eskom Holdings SOC Limited Interim Integrated Report - September 30, 2013: Shareholder compact. In: integratedreport.eskom.co.za. Retrieved June 21, 2016 .
  5. ^ Cabinet backs new Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter. Fin24, November 21, 2019.
  6. ^ Eskom chief resigns over South Africa graft scandal. The Guardian, November 11, 2016, accessed November 11, 2016
  7. ^ Eskom - the power giant at the core of South Africa's state rot. sowetanlive.co.za, February 4, 2018, accessed February 4, 2018
  8. ↑ The Eskom break-up explained: What we know so far fin24.com dated February 7, 2019, accessed on February 10, 2019
  9. ↑ Eskom being eaten alive now by its own debt. citizen.co.za, February 13, 2019, accessed February 14, 2019
  10. ^ Fitch downgrades South Africa credit rating. africanews.com, July 28, 2019, accessed July 30, 2019
  11. ^ Sonia de Vries: Opinion: Benefits and risks of a nuclear energy program . News from March 5, 2018 on www.iol.co.za (English)
  12. ^ Mia Lindeque: Details on SA / Russia nuclear deal emerge . Message from Primedia Broadcasting dated February 13, 2015 on www.ewn.co.za (English)
  13. ^ Ivo Vegter: Nuclear energy is extraordinarily safe . News from November 19, 2018 from Daily Maverick on www.dailymaverick.co.za (English)
  14. ^ Republic of South Africa, Department of Energy: Nuclear Energy Act, 1999 . online at www.energy.gov.za (English)
  15. ^ Republic of South Africa, Department of Energy: National Nuclear Regulator Act, 1999 . online at www.energy.gov.za (English)
  16. ↑ a b WWF-SA (Ed.): Renewable energy: Facts and Futures. The energy future we want . at www.crses.sun.ac.za (English, PDF document p. 15–16)
  17. ↑ Environment.co.za: The energy HOAX . Posted May 23, 2010 on www.environment.co.za (English)
  18. ↑ Eskom: What is load shedding? (Description of load shedding ) . at www.loadshedding.eskom.co.za, accessed June 24, 2017
  19. ↑ Why the massive blackouts can have devastating effects on South Africa. handelsblatt.com of December 17, 2018, accessed December 20, 2018
  20. ↑ South Africa's Eskom to implement power cuts over capacity constraint Reuters.com of February 10, 2019 (English), accessed on February 10, 2019
  21. ↑ Eskom drops load shedding to stage 1 until 11 pm on Friday. on www.iol.co.za on January 10, 2020, accessed on January 10, 2020
  22. ↑ Sabelo hermitage, Thanduxolo Jika: A suspect contract blew the fuse . Message from Mail & Guardian of March 22, 2019 on www.mg.co.za (English)
  23. ↑ Robinson Nqola: Mozambique cyclone to blame for stage 4 load shedding, says Eskom . News from Eyewitness News (EWN) from March 16, 2019 on www.ewn.co.za (English)
  24. ^ Antoinette Slabbert, Landi Slatter: Eskom blames Cyclone Idai for SA's power outages . News from City Press of March 17, 2019 on www.city-press.news24.com (English)