By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Energy Crisis Committee (Necom) is considering a public–private partnership model to accelerate the building of the R210-billion-worth of grid infrastructure required to connect new generators to the grid, especially in provinces with potent wind and solar services.
Speaking during his weekly briefing on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan on Sunday, Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa stressed that there was no intention of relinquishing State ownership of the grid, and that any arrangements would, thus, need to align with that condition.
[Our] modelling suggests that we’ll need anything in the order of magnitude of about R210-billion [to expand and strengthen the grid], and given the balance sheet constraints of Eskom and also the fact that they are not allowed to go out and borrow, we need to think creatively on how we can tap into the liquidity that’s sitting in the private sector to help to roll out the grid at an accelerated pace.”
He said that Necom had not yet finalised its deliberations on the possible model but indicated that it was likely to take on the characteristics of a build-operate-and-transfer approach.
Ramokgopa said that a study underway by German consultancy VGBE, which was analysing the technical problems at coal power stations, would make its report final at the end of July. This report will guide the timetable for the delayed decommissioning of coal power stations and indicate whether any were suitable for private-sector partnerships.
Necom secretariat head Rudi Dicks, who also attended the briefing, said that the decommissioning plan “will be our major focus going forward.”
Detailed modelling work was also being done on financing mechanisms to fund the expansion of the national transmission grid. More grid capacity is required to expand the production of renewable energy, as the grid in certain places has reached saturation.
Government was exploring how this investment could be made as Eskom is financially constrained and unable to borrow due to debt relief conditions laid down by the National Treasury. A possible model was Build Operate Transfer (BOT), in which the private sector funds the expansion by extracting user revenue for a set period, after which ownership and operation are transferred to the government.”
The Eskom balance sheet is very weak, and yet the private sector is sitting on liquidity. It is not our intention to relinquish ownership of the grid, so we need to think about Build Operate Transfer in the same way that we are building roads with SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) with toll gates and toll fees and so on,” he said.
Eskom Transmission Group Executive Segomoco Scheppers reported that South Africa needed to add more than 1 500 km of new transmission lines yearly between now and 2032 to ensure that the infrastructure was in place to facilitate the addition of more than 50 GW of new generation capacity, mostly in the form of variable renewables.
Scheppers revealed that the division was currently only adding 300 km of new power lines yearly, a pace that was insufficient to ensure that 14 000 km of new lines were installed over the ten-year horizon from 2022 to 2032.
In addition, more than 122 600 MVA-worth of transformation capacity would have to be added, representing 77% of Eskom’s current installed base of just over 160 000 MVA. In the prior ten-year period only 19 060 MVA was introduced.
Meanwhile Eskom announced on Sunday that Stage 3 load shedding would kick in at 16:00 until midnight after which it would be suspended.
The same pattern is expected to be repeated for the rest of the week until further notice.
Load shedding will then be suspended from midnight until 16:00 on Monday, with load shedding then continuing at stage 3 until midnight.
Eskom said that this cycle will continue daily until further notice and will publish another schedule should any significant changes occur.
The group said that breakdowns currently stand at 16,524MW of generating capacity, while the generating capacity out for planned maintenance is at 4,376MW.
“Over the last 24 hours, a generating unit each at Hendrina, Kriel and Medupi power stations were returned to service. In the same period, a generation unit each at Arnot and Medupi power stations were taken out of service due to breakdowns,” Eskom said.
It added that delays in returning to service a generating unit each at Grootvlei, Hendrina and Tutuka power stations are furthering capacity limitations, with its teams working to bring these units to service over the next few days.