Eskom says we need 'at least' 40 new coal mines

SHOOT: That's code for 'We won't have enough electricity for everyone eventually', which I think we already know, but just aren't too keen to face. We needed to invest in nuclear power about 10-20 years ago. Now it is too late for a couple of reasons, one being that there just isn't any money.

clipped from www.mg.co.za South Africa needs at least 40 new coal mines to prevent shortages over the long term, Eskom operations head Brian Dames said in an interview published on Tuesday. "While Eskom's demand for coal in the past few years has been increasing by 5% per year, coal production in South Africa has remained constant," Dames told Sake24. "That is why it has become so difficult for Eskom to get coal cheaply. The demand is higher than the supply. In the next 10 years, big investments would have to be done in coal mines. South Africa needs at least 40 new coal mines," said Dames, adding that the investment could cost up to R40-billion. Dames said further investment was required in the logistics behind transporting coal. "Great volumes of coal have to be transported by road because there is no alternative. If the trucks stop running, there will be no more power. It is as simple as that," he warned. Coal sources are far from coal power stations, exacerbating the problem.

Eskom announces cascading catastrophe: 11 power stations down (09:47am)

Despite efforts to keep power supply 'nominal', a short at SubstationAF1 (near Nelspruit), [full story here] which in fact is a conduit bringing electricity from Cabora Basa, basically sent a surge which has resulted in a critical cascading effect. This is currently being loaded throughout the networks of Limpopo, Mpumulanga. Gauteng has been placed on alert, particularly since it is April Fool's Day ;-)

10%: Are You Able To Cut It? Huh? Punk?

So Eskom has laid down the law: 10% or else. Do you feel efficient? Punk? Well there is a very, very simple way to cut 10% or more. Easy. Want to know what it is? When you get home from work, do not turn on the TV, do not cook food, do not take a hot (or even cold) shower. Do not pass go, just go to bed.

Realistically though, with a little bit of consistent discipline, 10% ought to be a snip. We will probably realise just how inefficient (read: wasteful) we are. Ne.

All of us are lazy when it comes to leaving lights, computers and other gadgets on. The Times has a great headline which expresses this lack of efficiency quite ironically:
The Lights Are On But Nobody's Home. Excellent !-)

UK's take on SA's Power Cuts (GUARDIAN)

Power cuts a good sign, sceptical South Africans told

The South African government has told millions of people left in the dark by rolling power cuts that have swept the country over the past week, and which are likely to go on for years, to look on the bright side.
The blackouts are the result of surging demand for power caused by a booming economy, it says. But as the lights go off more frequently and for longer periods, the national mood has darkened.

Hospitals have lost power in the middle of operations, prompting doctors to warn it is only a matter of time before someone dies as a result.
Huge traffic jams have clogged cities as traffic lights, known as "robots" in South Africa, cut out. Commuters in Pretoria set fire to six trains on Friday evening after services were delayed for two hours by the loss of power.

The sound of generators, part of the background noise of many African cities, can now also be heard in Johannesburg. Restaurants coping with up to thee power outages a day are emphasising the benefits of candlelit dinners.

Being South Africa, there's also the security issue. A Johannesburg woman was robbed with a gun pressed to her head because the electronic gate to her home would not open.

More.

Eskom = Anarchy?

NVDL: Have a look at the story below from SABC news. The mob turned its anger onto the infrastructure and ruined it for at least 6 months. It's not unreasonable to expect this to become a trend in our not-so-civilised African country. That said, if one experienced fuel shortages - here or in Yeehawland - expect more of the same.

Thousands stranded due to torched trains

January 21, 2008, 17:00

Commuters were stranded today in Tshwane after the burning of Metrorail coaches on Friday night during a power failure.

The Commuter Corporation suspended the train service to the corridor for the next six months, saying if people burn trains they will receive no service.

The Mabopane-Pretoria and the De Welt-Pretoria lines will be closed for up to six months for repairs. Between 40 000 and 50 000 people use those lines on a daily basis. Commuters were left with only buses and taxis to ferry them to work.

The cost of this is double the price of a train trip. Many have already bought monthly tickets, and have not budgeted for additional travel expenses.

Reward offered for offenders
The Commuter Corporation and the Tshwane Metro Council are working on a battle plan to help commuters.

"The establishment of the joint task team, which will start to look at operational issues, will be able to identify other modes of public transport which could be used while this crisis is ongoing," says Pule Mabe, from Metrorail.

It will cost approximately R2.5 million to restore damaged lines and R150 million to replace the rolling stock.

Metrorail is offering a R100 000 reward for information on those responsible for burning the coaches. Police have opened a case of malicious damage to property.

Um..can I ask a question?

How can this country hope to stage the soccer world cup 2 years from now when we can't power up our own cities for the next 7 years?

There is also a project underway right now called The Housing Project. The idea is to provide tens of thousands of houses, adding up to millions of homes over a period of years. These houses are naturally connected to an electricity network.

I was in Botswana last week and power supplied from South Africa was 'intermittent'. For example, in the middle of the day we stopped to fuel up our landrover, and couldn't, because the garage had no electricity to pump fuel. Crazy!

En route back, on the radio, Eskom announced plans to no longer supply neighboring countries like Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe with power. These countries receive just 5% of Eskom's capacity. Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique will continue to get power.

ESKOM: We're Learning

So we've had a few irritating periods of load shedding, followed by announcements to say that load shedding won't happen for several days. What does this mean? It means we're learning that if we DO SOMETHING, if we co-operate, if we get those messages that we once ignored on TV and get up and turn off a few lights etc., it can save us the bother of having everything going off for a few hours.

One of the nasty consequences, in Jozi in particular, of a blackout is that your perimeter fencing goes off; in other words your fortified prison no longer works. Sit in the dark, grab a knife, hold thumbs and pray it comes back on before the Tsotsi's find your house...

That's great. I hope though that we'll be able to maintain these habits, rather than have to endure a schoolyard system. What's a schoolyard system? It means behaving reasonably for a limited time, then misbehaving, being taught a lesson, and repeating the process about a gazillion times. It's not very nice because everyone suffers.

Hopefully, at this early stage, we will have learnt that in terms of wasting energy, (using) less is more (for all). There's one teeny tiny snag though. Let's say we collectively manage to cut down our consumption, thereby raising capacity, what also happens is that there will then be a semi-artificial situation created where additional users get added to the grid (because there's theoretically additional electricity available).

Think about it: the housing rollout in South Africa also includes the rollout of electricity en masse. Whatever we don't use, at the end of the day, is going to be used up by additional users. In the this sense our electrical feature in South Africa seems increasingly, well, dim. The roll out of Nuclear Power stations is at least 10 years away, and they will only come online if the costs of inflation don't go through the roof. That's also not guaranteed. But, I digress. I need to send off this email before the power goes out in the building (something that's happening more and more often eeek!)

Here's more:
Load shedding in Tshwane
Matric students (in Pakistan) blame results on blackout nights of study
Integrated load shedding schedule for Cape Town and the Western Cape
Eskom Load Shedding Schedule
What to expect and what you need to know about the current shortfall of electricity in the Western Cape