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

[Fruity]

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.

What can that power, if you don't mind me asking? I'm not too clued up on Inverters.

[IceCreamMan]

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.

 

 

 

So to quote a line from a movie

 

"what we have here gentlemen, is a cluster ****"

[Kranswurm]

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]

We are working on Medupi and Kusile and not going to the UK or Belgium

[splat]

What can that power, if you don't mind me asking? I'm not too clued up on Inverters.

 

https://www.geewiz.co.za/1179-long-run-ups-inverter-battery

 

These guys explain the products and options quite nicely.

Although, I still cannot get a definitive answer on Modified vs Pure Sinewave output to run computers etc.

 

I have gone for a 3000VA 24 volt system with 2 batteries.

It will be a stand alone system for now, but will be connected to the DB at a later stage.

Possibly also connected to Solar in the future too

[Bonus]

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

 

What a catelogue of disaster. 

 

A few years ago I went to a meeting with ESKOM to talk to them about VSDs and Soft Starters for some of their very big electric motors. In the meeting one of the middle managers, who I assume didn't get his job because of his qualifications, proposed using a VSD to do a particular job and the Rep I was with from the Soft Starter company pointed out as tactfully as possible that what the man was proposing was nonsense. 

 

After the meeting I was talking to one of the top level guys - a Dr of Electro Engineering, who had also been in the meeting and he said to me one of the fundemental problems he had was that he had guys below him making bad decisions and he just couldn't keep an eye on all of them all the time.

[Bonus]

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

 

I had a friend who worked as part of the catering team at Medupi and he told us stories of mountains of food being thrown away every day but when they tried to cut back on the amunt of food being delivered there were strikes and protests. Something to do with promised free meals forever etc.

 

I remember reading about the conveyor belt breakdown when it happened. Trying to truck-in coal at a comparible rate to what can be delivered on a properly functioning conveyor running 24/7 just beggers belief. You literally wouldn't stand a chance.

 

If I remember correctly, the boilers at Matla, Duvha and Letabo - which are 600MW units - consume around 100 tons of coal per hour per boiler. That's 600 tons of coal consumed per Station per hour - every hour. The new stations with a higher MW output will obviously consume more per hour and if the coal is a poorer quality and has a lower calorific value then you will need more coal per hour to produce the same amount of electricity.

[Bonus]

On the bright side, apparently the people of Soweto who don't pay for their electricity and their famalies back home in Zim are doing ok for electricity . . . . 

[WrightJnr]

On the bright side, apparently the people of Soweto who don't pay for their electricity and their famalies back home in Zim are doing ok for electricity . . . .

 

https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-loadshedding-round-up-sa-suffering-rolling-blackouts-as-eskom-battles-to-keep-grid-operational-20191210

 

Not anymore, it’s now THAT bad!

[Mojoman]

So the Squirrel of the South has said there will be no load shedding from the 16th...
Well done mate....

That's when most businesses have closed up shop for Dec...(or just given up....)
What a legend.....

And damn these saboteurs.....!

 

Edited December 12, 2019 by Mojoman

[mazambaan]

We are working on Medupi and Kusile and not going to the UK or Belgium

 

Hey wena, why you on the hub? You should be shoveling coal or ash or water; something.

 

Hope you aren't involved in clueless Cyril's "sabotage" squeals of distraction  .

 

Slightly more seriously, I do not know how you cope. I was on site at one of the smaller stations for a small job and it was a farce. Safety, security and environmental took up all the meeting time; technical (my field) was clueless (no plans, no old reports, no numbers, find out everything yourself) and he was rushed so the herd could get to lunch. It was approaching 11h45 and they had another meeting at 13h00. None looked underfed.

[Kranswurm]

Hey wena, why you on the hub? You should be shoveling coal or ash or water; something.

 

Hope you aren't involved in clueless Cyril's "sabotage" squeals of distraction  .

 

Slightly more seriously, I do not know how you cope. I was on site at one of the smaller stations for a small job and it was a farce. Safety, security and environmental took up all the meeting time; technical (my field) was clueless (no plans, no old reports, no numbers, find out everything yourself) and he was rushed so the herd could get to lunch. It was approaching 11h45 and they had another meeting at 13h00. None looked underfed.

I am not personally involved but the company has been on the projects since 2013.

Very difficult projects.Contractually you have to have your ducks in a row.Claim after claim.I think we have pulled of site half a dozen times already for payment issues

[gogo@]

Here we go, the article I referred to:

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/324320-eskoms-medupi-nightmare.html

Which ends with this:

 

In summary, the known problems at Eskom’s Medupi power station include:

1. The main conveyor from Grootegeluk mine feeding coal to Medupi failed, causing belt and structural damage.
2. Protection devices on the conveyor failed to detect the fault timeously.
3. The stacker/reclaimers at the Medupi coal stockyard are not working, and the coal stockyard is thus bypassed.
4. Coal was being transported by truck from the stockyard to the boiler bunkers, causing massive congestion and forcing reduced power output of the generators.
5. The coal mills are of wrong design, causing excessive wear and tear, with increased maintenance and downtime.
6. The design height of the boilers is inadequate (i.e. too low), thus causing excessive temperatures within the boiler and flue gas.
7. Excessive flue gas temperature is causing premature failure of the pulse-jet fabric filters, which are essential for fly ash collection and pollution control.
8. The ash handling system is unable to cope with the volume of bottom ash and fly ash from the boilers.

[gogo@]

I had a friend who worked as part of the catering team at Medupi and he told us stories of mountains of food being thrown away every day but when they tried to cut back on the amunt of food being delivered there were strikes and protests. Something to do with promised free meals forever etc.

 

I remember reading about the conveyor belt breakdown when it happened. Trying to truck-in coal at a comparible rate to what can be delivered on a properly functioning conveyor running 24/7 just beggers belief. You literally wouldn't stand a chance.

 

If I remember correctly, the boilers at Matla, Duvha and Letabo - which are 600MW units - consume around 100 tons of coal per hour per boiler. That's 600 tons of coal consumed per Station per hour - every hour. The new stations with a higher MW output will obviously consume more per hour and if the coal is a poorer quality and has a lower calorific value then you will need more coal per hour to produce the same amount of electricity.

 

If you did a cost comparison between using the "cheap" coal and the more expensive higher grade rocks but factored in maintenance and failures (forgetting the secondary costs of load shedding) I wonder how that would work out...

J-B Styan describes how far out of their depth the Eskom people negotiating these contracts are.

 

I also remember the strike(s) at Medupi over the packaged meals that were provided. They were pretty substantial but apparently they were "inadequate" because they were not canteen meals...

Conspiracy theory alert: I'd bet there was someone standing ready with another catering contract "just waiting" for this strike.

[scotty]

So the planned "new intervention" is nothing more than regurgitated proposals and solutions not implemented.  

 

The governing party believes that its long-stated resolution on introducing private equity partners and diversifying SA’s energy mix is the panacea to Eskom’s problems.

The ANC has peddled old ideas to save Eskom and SA from unprecedented power cuts, saying it wants to introduce strategic equity partners in the debt-laden power utility and diversify the country’s energy mix to include renewable energy into the national grid. 

While the ANC believes that these interventions are a game-changer, the diversification of SA’s energy mix alone is part of the National Development Plan, a policy that was adopted by Parliament in 2012 but the governing party has failed to implement.  

https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/anc-peddles-old-ideas-to-resolve-eskoms-long-standing-problems/ar-AAK2A5U?ocid=spartandhp

[Fruity]

Load shedding tops Google's 2019 Year in Search list

 

https://www.ecr.co.za/news/news/load-shedding-tops-googles-2019-year-search-list/

[Bonus]

If you did a cost comparison between using the "cheap" coal and the more expensive higher grade rocks but factored in maintenance and failures (forgetting the secondary costs of load shedding) I wonder how that would work out...

 

 

Managers looking for productivity bonuses will ignore long term costs in favour of short term savings knowing that in the long term they will either have moved up or moved on and it will be someone elses problem.

 

I used to deal with department heads at the stations are rarely saw anyone in a position for longer than a year. In the workshop at Matla I talked to people that had been there since I was an Appy in the 80's!