A dark Africa lays ahead.....load shedding

[ABrooks]

What would be the best solution to run my router and fibre box for the duration of load shedding? I'm looking for the best solution and the cheapest. A UPS will set me back around R1500 but what are the alternatives?

[DJR]

Been burning up diesel like it is for free just to keep work going - there's going to be no Christmas bonus for me - and soon thereafter SARS will want their pound of my raw flesh as well! Eina!       

[Fruity]

.

[WrightJnr]

For all those asking “UPS” questions. Please understand that most UPS’s are designed to supply power long enough to shut down attaches devices. They are not designed to act as standby power.

 

Using them as an alternative power source during load shedding is not ideal. The batteries they use are not designed to be run flat and recharged all the time. They will not last and also take an enormous amount of time to recharge, so anything higher than Stage 2 will probably drain more than they can charge.

 

A pure sine small inverter generator or a low watt inverter with a proper deep cycle battery will repay itself over and over in the long run in my opinion.

 

Above, personal opinion with some experience in killing a few 2000w UPS’s in home office.

[gummibear]

[Vetplant]

Cyril probably wants to make the announcement that loadshedding is over due to his efforts.

 

Meanwhile it is the hard working men and women on the ground that made this possible

[scotty]

Cyril probably wants to make the announcement that loadshedding is over due to his efforts.

 

Meanwhile it is the hard working men and women on the ground that made this possible

Yup or in this case above the ground. 

[gogo@]

Is there a list of units down and why?

 

I know traditionally Tube Leaks are one of the biggest reasons but I'd be interested to know what is actually going on.

 

I guess the Duvha unit that was "accelerated to destruction" a few years ago is all fixed now?

I saw a pretty good summary of the current issues- trying to find it again ????

Seems Kusile and Medupi (and the ANC-Guptas) are the biggest log breaking the camel’s back, but it includes dodgy coal deals (low grade coal, so wet sludge, jammed conveyor belts) besides the cock up of designs for Medupi and Kusile and the building delays. Which if I remember right also involved squabbles over catering and contracts.

Will see if I can find that article but meanwhile there is this:

https://www.fin24.com/Budget/how-medupi-and-kusile-are-sinking-south-africa-20191009

[Mojoman]

There goes another R1400 to keep the factory running for a few more hours....

 

Good thing Cyril knows Eskom and their problems are a strain on the economy....smart dude...

[IceCreamMan]

There goes another R1400 to keep the factory running for a few more hours....

 

Good thing Cyril knows Eskom and their problems are a strain on the economy....smart dude...

 

I saw an alleged tweet by CR made in 2015 where he said load shedding would be a thing of the past in 18 to 24 months. Think CR has been a serious disappointment.

 

(I know not if it is real but thought it funny irrespective seeing as he was deeply involved as Deputy prez for those years and now seems to think this is all new.)

[gummibear]

I saw a pretty good summary of the current issues- trying to find it again [emoji849]

Seems Kusile and Medupi (and the ANC-Guptas) are the biggest log breaking the camel’s back, but it includes dodgy coal deals (low grade coal, so wet sludge, jammed conveyor belts) besides the cock up of designs for Medupi and Kusile and the building delays. Which if I remember right also involved squabbles over catering and contracts.

Will see if I can find that article but meanwhile there is this:

https://www.fin24.com/Budget/how-medupi-and-kusile-are-sinking-south-africa-20191009

I know 3 people that worked on Madupi but what they did I have no idea.

 

What I do know is that 1 guy left SA for the UK last week and the other 2 are move to Belgium in January.

Do they know something about what is still going come[emoji15]

[kosmonooit]

Heart goes out to any Employers during office hours load shedding - I feel your pain!  been there, done that .... and lost a packet.

 

Employment Contracts should be amended with the provision of remuneration as long as there is mains power.

 

Even working for myself, I am finding it hard to stick to schedules, this bollox messes up everything.

Edited December 11, 2019 by kosmonooit

[kosmonooit]

For all those asking “UPS” questions. Please understand that most UPS’s are designed to supply power long enough to shut down attaches devices. They are not designed to act as standby power.

 

Using them as an alternative power source during load shedding is not ideal. The batteries they use are not designed to be run flat and recharged all the time. They will not last and also take an enormous amount of time to recharge, so anything higher than Stage 2 will probably drain more than they can charge.

 

A pure sine small inverter generator or a low watt inverter with a proper deep cycle battery will repay itself over and over in the long run in my opinion.

 

Above, personal opinion with some experience in killing a few 2000w UPS’s in home office.

 

There are those all in one big box thingies that have 2x 100 Ah batteries in, plus a 1 or 1.4 kW Inverter Charger on top, that go for R7-8K+. Although those inverters are 'modified' sine wave, that is okay for electronics, not okay for motors (too many harmonics)

 

Otherwise get a 100Ah battery, a small inverter and a charger, these can be found at 4x4 stores, china malls etc, also Ellies. Battery will set you back around R2k

 

Just one thing though, you do not want to deeply discharge your battery, it will do damage, read up on low voltage disconnect. You really want a lot more capacity than you will need, so you do not dip too deeply into the discharge cycle. Check the data sheets for lifespan vs depth of discharge,

Edited December 11, 2019 by kosmonooit

[Shebeen]

I saw a pretty good summary of the current issues- trying to find it again

Seems Kusile and Medupi (and the ANC-Guptas) are the biggest log breaking the camel’s back, but it includes dodgy coal deals (low grade coal, so wet sludge, jammed conveyor belts) besides the cock up of designs for Medupi and Kusile and the building delays. Which if I remember right also involved squabbles over catering and contracts.

Will see if I can find that article but meanwhile there is this:

https://www.fin24.com/Budget/how-medupi-and-kusile-are-sinking-south-africa-20191009

 

 

used to be that eskom (well government) had the local coal market cornered. Built many of their power stations next to the mines

 

 

that is not the case anymore,

 

https://mg.co.za/article/2019-10-11-00-the-high-price-of-coal-connections

[Plentipotential]

Let the panic buying of inverters and deep cycle batteries commence!

 

Builders had these on special a few years back some months after the 1st round of heavy load shedding

 

https://www.builders.co.za/Electrical/Inverters-%26-Solar-Energy/Inverters/Ellies-Power-Inverter-DC-1200w-2000va-24v/p/000000000000395576?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuIKNsdWt5gIVmK3tCh1cHQSrEAQYASABEgLVtPD_BwE

 

Paid R 6 K at the time, works well.

[gogo@]

I know 3 people that worked on Madupi but what they did I have no idea.

 

What I do know is that 1 guy left SA for the UK last week and the other 2 are move to Belgium in January.

Do they know something about what is still going come[emoji15]

The one who left for the UK - was he possibly the manager? I'm sure I heard that he had resigned as the **** was hitting the fan.

My fear is that any sane person left will leave. There are so many (don't shoot me) under-currents at play here I don't know how anyone is going to pull it all back together again.

Who would stay to deal with the unions, the corruption and the incompetence???

 

Apparently in October the main mechanism for getting coal into the boilers at Medupi wasn't working (and still doesn't) which is why they were using the conveyor belt overtime from the Grootgeluk (??) mine, so then that went poof due to sludge from low grade coal (wet coal dust) and the sensors supposed to pick up any problems failed, so then there was a 700m section of proprietary belt stuffed up, and they had to truck the coal in, so then people who should have been clearing ash out the other end were pulled in to get the coal off the jam of trucks double parking and into the boilers and that meant that insufficient ash was being moved out the other end and so on (ad nauseam)...

oh yes also the design doesn't work as intended because there is insufficient height for cooling (this is from memory, so please correct the technical stuff) and the plant temperature runs too high

also the boiler design is faulty (perhaps linked to above?).

 

Hitachi GMBH got the tender to design the boiler by hook and crook over others because a shareholder was... Chancellor House, the investment arm for the ANC. I think Mendi Msimang was ANC Treasurer at the time but Zweli Mkhize took over from him. Look at him now. Mr (sorry Dr) squeaky clean, in charge of the NHI.

 

The coal contracts start to go (very) pear-shaped when Brian Molefe gets involved, shafting Anglo American in favour of the Guptas. They pushed Optimum Colliery into bankruptcy and used that process to grab tenders for Tegeta for Eskom's coal supply. Coal prices have increased so two things happen. Where they can't fleece the contract price (because the price of coal is fixed) they make it up on charging nicely for transporting the coal...

and Eskom gets low grade coal because something like 75 percent is being exported.  I think India now is importing much of the higher grade coal (which burns better).

And I'm sure you'll see many ex Eskom employees and engineers involved in building India's power stations.

 

Medupi and Kusile (also Ingula) were bespoke designs. That opened the door for all kinds of crookery over contracts for design and build. Neither are completed yet either.  I think the new date for Medupi is 2021 and 2023 for Kusile.

 

It's not just that there are technical problems, it's that the system has been bent into using tenders and contracts to run the ANC (including election funding campaigns) and of course then the diversion into "fees" for middlemen who added buggerall to the process and created a patronage system like the one Ace Magashule (and oom Gwede?) runs.

I'd love to see a proper analysis of what money went where - like how much "fixers" were paid to negotiate contracts and source diesel.

 

The question is if there's a SINGLE piece of the system that isn't corrupted.

The same thing is happening in municipalities.

 

Three books to read to see how this all fits together:

James-Brent Styan's Blackout: The Eskom Crisis

https://www.loot.co.za/product/james-brent-styan-blackout/fvtz-3363-ga50

Crispin Olver: How to Steal a City

http://www.jonathanball.co.za/component/virtuemart/how-to-steal-a-city-detail?Itemid=6

Johan van Loggerenberg: Rogue: the inside story of SARS's elite crime-busting unit

https://www.warbooks.co.za/products/rogue-the-inside-story-of-sarss-elite-crime-busting-unit-johann-van-loggerenberg-and-adrian-lackay?variant=182411165699