loadshedding

[mazambaan]

this is South Africa....those batteries will just be stolen by our comrades ..

 

Supplied by comrades; stolen by comrades; rinse and repeat. The SA economy.

[Kranswurm]

2 hours yesterday pm to get from Rosebank to Glen Marais...30kays

 

[Eddy Gordo]

SA electricity distributed in August was less than any time after the Great recession of 2008/09. Not a good sign for SA economic growth at all. Shaded areas are periods of GDP decline. August was steeper drop than March. Lowest volume of electricity distributed since April 2008

 

 

http://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/364096/eskom-distributed-less-electricity-in-august-2019-than-at-any-time-since-february-2009

[Shebeen]

SA electricity distributed in August was less than any time after the Great recession of 2008/09. Not a good sign for SA economic growth at all. Shaded areas are periods of GDP decline. August was steeper drop than March. Lowest volume of electricity distributed since April 2008

 

 

http://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/364096/eskom-distributed-less-electricity-in-august-2019-than-at-any-time-since-february-2009

 

 

ja, that is worrying/an indictment on the government/economy but....

 

because of loadshedding/cost a lot of the low hanging fruit of being more energy efficient has been implemented in that time.

in short the GDP per kWh has increased quite a bit

 

and mining is in a slump

 

 

utility energy argument is never simple, always lots of context.

[Shebeen]

There is talk of ESKOM deploying mega battery banks at substations, capable of carrying it through the evening peak consumption period.

 

That way they won't need to run those Open Cycle Tubines as much, with massive cost savings.

 

If this is employed everywhere and people are encouraged to have their own battery banks at home it would make the feasibility of Renewables skyrocket.

 

But, we are waaaaaay off from going completely away from power stations.

 

I am still of the opinion that the correct Nuclear Power plant is the way to go. There is no other base load power source that can compete currently with regards to emissions and overall cost per electricity unit over the lifetime of the plant. That is not even touching on the disasters that are Medupi and Kusile. We need to move away from COAL ASAP.

 

https://www.windy.com/-NO2-no2?cams,no2,-29.884,22.236,7

 

 

nuclear is definitely an option.

it will, however, never be cheap without some major technology advance.

so currently, it is just not going to happen. and most of the countries that can improve it are too scared to be seen to be involved in it.

 

same with large scale battery storage, the cost is too high for the 80% "round trip efficiency".

 

the biggest contributer to baseload power we are probably going to see in our lifetimes is the battery in the electric vehicles we will all own. Charge it overnight for cheap, drive it to work in the morning. plug in during the day, charging/discharging as the smart grid needs it, drive home, plug in and the cycle continues.

Just requires an electricity system to be run as an efficient market, with time of use/real time pricing. Cyril can't bring the ISMO bill back quick enough.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Shebeen

[flymango]

SA electricity distributed in August was less than any time after the Great recession of 2008/09. Not a good sign for SA economic growth at all. Shaded areas are periods of GDP decline. August was steeper drop than March. Lowest volume of electricity distributed since April 2008

 

 

http://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/364096/eskom-distributed-less-electricity-in-august-2019-than-at-any-time-since-february-2009

 Whilst the trend is no doubt correct, the absolute number can't be taken at face value because of emergency generators and rooftop PV installations. So whilst the grid distributed less, there was growing off-grid consumption. And so the death-spiral gathers momentum ... 

[scotty]

I'm one of the lucky few in that they seem to have have forgotten about my area, since load shedding first began about 12 years ago we have been hit 2 or 3 times, one might even call it incompetence that they not able to stick to a schedule like other areas. 

 

Cable theft, now that's another story and regular occurrence. 

Edited October 18, 2019 by scotty

[mazambaan]

I have a spread of broad practical questions about Eskom. It can never repay its own debt I believe.

 

But can it realistically (practically) be fixed?  With the right management (no cadre deployment and "AA") and honest (no "BEE" and tenderpreneuring) procurement are there enough technical people to actually do what s needed; or is the design and construction of the newer power stations fundamentally flawed?  This was more or less suggested by Ted Blom about the conveyor failure. The boiler piping issue seems ongoing. Ash handling is said to be a problem.

 

I was told that here are many excellent people at Eskom but are there enough and where are they?

 

Disclaimer; I looked at a dedicated rail project recently for Eskom and all Eskom personnel were paralysed; to be polite. It was built 4 or 5 years ago and still not running as no one either knows what to do or can make a decision.

[scotty]

I have a spread of broad practical questions about Eskom. It can never repay its own debt I believe.

 

But can it realistically (practically) be fixed?  With the right management (no cadre deployment and "AA") and honest (no "BEE" and tenderpreneuring) procurement are there enough technical people to actually do what s needed; or is the design and construction of the newer power stations fundamentally flawed?  This was more or less suggested by Ted Blom about the conveyor failure. The boiler piping issue seems ongoing. Ash handling is said to be a problem.

 

I was told that here are many excellent people at Eskom but are there enough and where are they?

 

Disclaimer; I looked at a dedicated rail project recently for Eskom and all Eskom personnel were paralysed; to be polite. It was built 4 or 5 years ago and still not running as no one either knows what to do or can make a decision.

Not through lack of trying, of course there will be critics. But one has to ask why would a "right wing" organization who would love to see SA fail make such an initiation to save SA

 

Solidarity plans to propagate the skills bank widely among its members, former members and their networks. “We plan to post it on overseas groups, and we call on South African embassies and missions to help register South African skills so we could have the opportunity to re-recruit them. Many of the experts are abroad for the time being only and would be keen to offer their skills in South Africa instead. Thousands of retired engineers and technicians in South Africa are also ready to offer their help,” Hermann said.

According to Solidarity, the best investment that can be made in Eskom right now is an investment in top skills, even if it is only for the interim to ease Eskom out of its crisis. 

 

https://solidariteit.co.za/en/eskom-solidarity-offers-help-to-address-skills-shortage/

[Capricorn]

I have a spread of broad practical questions about Eskom. It can never repay its own debt I believe.

 

But can it realistically (practically) be fixed?  With the right management (no cadre deployment and "AA") and honest (no "BEE" and tenderpreneuring) procurement are there enough technical people to actually do what s needed; or is the design and construction of the newer power stations fundamentally flawed?  This was more or less suggested by Ted Blom about the conveyor failure. The boiler piping issue seems ongoing. Ash handling is said to be a problem.

 

I was told that here are many excellent people at Eskom but are there enough and where are they?

 

Disclaimer; I looked at a dedicated rail project recently for Eskom and all Eskom personnel were paralysed; to be polite. It was built 4 or 5 years ago and still not running as no one either knows what to do or can make a decision.

medupi is seriously flawed, but there are solutions: one is to derate the power station, the other is to replace the pulverizers. the PF quality is not good enough for the boilers height (it's too short).

 

I've always maintained that there are good enough ppl within eskom, but they are being sidelined. The rank incompetence was predominantly at management level, but i'm afraid that over the past few years, that incompetence has started saturating the non-managerial roles as well. Eskom's problems are no different from those of government in that the pervasive incompetence in government is mirrored in Eskom's structures.  And like in government, where good ppl are being sidelined and bullied into silence and inaction, so too are the good ones in Eskom.

 

Get those good ppl going again, and I believe Eskom can be pulled straight. But it's not going to happen overnight. I'd say at least 3 -5 years to start seeing greenshoots. the key is getting the culture right,a nd currently, it's extremely toxic.

[splat]

Off to buy a UPS so I can save my work and shut down my PC properly.

 

Next up is an inverter and battery pack so I can work through the blackouts...

 

I don't have money for either, but I cannot afford PC damage or downtime.

[geomark]

[kosmonooit]

Off to buy a UPS so I can save my work and shut down my PC properly.

 

Next up is an inverter and battery pack so I can work through the blackouts...

 

I don't have money for either, but I cannot afford PC damage or downtime.

 

That what most people need to understand about UPS's:  they are not meant to be run flat every time, their small batteries will die, soon. They just give you the time to save and shut down.

 

Standby power systems needs to spec'ed by looking at a reduced load. expected runtime and longevity.

[kosmonooit]

Even if 'we' go nuclear, who is going to build them and run them and manage the projects efficiently?  BEE boeties and their buddies!   and it will all span out the way their other most recent power station projects did: dismal dysfunctionality whilst a tiny few get rich. Its not like there is a realisation of the failure of such policies, It's the mark of a fool, one that can not learn from mistakes.

 

Until the right people are appointed for the job, we are genuinely phucked.

[Vetplant]

Even if 'we' go nuclear, who is going to build them and run them and manage the projects efficiently?  BEE boeties and their buddies!   and it will all span out the way their other most recent power station projects did: dismal dysfunctionality whilst a tiny few get rich. Its not like there is a realisation of the failure of such policies, It's the mark of a fool, one that can not learn from mistakes.

 

Until the right people are appointed for the job, we are genuinely phucked.

Only true solution is to go the IPP route.

 

Make it a commercial industry where private entities build and operate these plants and they need to compete for business like in the rest of the world.

 

This State-run electricity malarkey needs to stop.

[Shebeen]

Only true solution is to go the IPP route.

 

Make it a commercial industry where private entities build and operate these plants and they need to compete for business like in the rest of the world.

 

This State-run electricity malarkey needs to stop.

 

No simple single solution. either a combination of

 

IPP - for renewables (and any other)

 

split up the grid into a separate entity, it becames a network that players can use to deliver their product(electricity). time of use or realtime power pricing would solve loadshedding instantly, but you'd need to package it very well to sell the concept to the masses.

 

sort out the coal. power stations were designed to get coal from huge mines on a cost+ basis. we've still got loads of it. don't get okes with a bakkie and a blank SME to try and compete on this scale.

 

eskom generation to be packaged into something that can be run efficiently both as a business unit and as the thing that keeps the economy going. if the best way to do this is to have 4/5 utility companies that buy these old stations, then so be it.

 

b u t.

as my old boss used to say, the order of decision making is

*politics

*economics

*technology

 

and big power has big power plays.

as long as you have K*k like this going on, the decision makers will not be bold enough to open up the industry and let the free market control it

https://www.fin24.com/Economy/Chancellor-House-made-5-000-return-on-Hitachi-deal-20151005

 

 

 

or we watch the utility deathspiral and go off the grid if/when it becomes feasible.