Acting Eskom CEO Calib Cassim Confident of Avoiding a Blackout
Key Highlights :
Acting Eskom CEO Calib Cassim has said that he does not "lose sleep" over the possibility of a blackout, as he has full confidence in the staff of the System Operator to ensure the country does not experience a blackout. Speaking at the Enlit Africa 2023 conference, Cassim was accompanied by Eskom's general manager for transmission, Segomoco Scheppers, who explained that load shedding is a "controlled" reduction of demand and that there are protection devices in place that kick in when needed to stabilise or restore balance to the system.
Cassim said that the System Operator team have the competence for the task, making decisions "by the second" and that there are several control checks in place before the country reaches a blackout. He added that often blackouts occur due to unexpected events that are not related to generation supply, such as extreme weather or climatic factors. Scheppers added that there are also black-start “facilities” in place that will apply in the extreme case of a blackout.
Commenting on the winter outlook, Cassim said that a "successful winter" for the power utility would be to keep the peak periods at Stage 6 or lower and during off-peak periods at Stage 4. He added that it would be a "tough winter" due to the unavailability factor of electricity averaging 16 000MW to 19 000MW. Cassim said that reducing the unavailability factor is key to improving Eskom's winter outlook and load shedding plans.
Eskom's recovery plan predicts some relief going forward, with Kusile's units amounting to 2 000MW returning in December. With regard to improving the performance of existing coal-fired stations, in the next two years, Eskom plans to recover 6 000MW across its fleet, Cassim said. He added that there is some positivity ahead, especially when considering the generation capacity that will be added from Independent Power Producers (IPPs), upcoming Bid Windows and the Energy Action Plan.
Key to unlocking this generation capacity is bolstering the transmission grid. Cassim said that in the long-term, security of electricity supply is all about the transmission grid, in terms of unlocking that and how to manage that grid with stability as more and more renewables come online in the future.
With the assurance of the System Operator team and the plans in place, Acting Eskom CEO Calib Cassim is confident that the country will not experience a blackout.
