Erwin queries R5,6bn loss from power blackouts :: Namibia Internet Gateway cc ::

Articles: Erwin queries R5,6bn loss from power blackouts

Posted by admin on Sunday, April 16, 2006 - 05:56 PM

CAPE TOWN — Government considers the R5,6bn that business estimates it has lost due to recent rolling power blackouts in the Western Cape to be “inflated” and inaccurately calculated.
CHRIS VAN GASS - CAPE CORRESPONDENT

This is the view of Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin, who also recently argued SA was not facing a national power crisis. Nevertheless, with both Cape Town and Johannesburg experiencing serious power cuts, Eskom has dramatically accelerated its multibillion-rand investment programme in new power plants. This includes a new baseload power station in Western Cape, totalling between 1800MW and 2200MW. Eskom is still deciding whether the power station will be gas-fired or nuclear. Erwin questioned the R6bn figure at a media briefing held on Thursday to report on the progress made by Eskom in restoring full power to Western Cape. This follows damage to one of the units at nuclear power plant Koeberg. The damage was caused by an 8cm bolt being left in the rotor. There were, however, also other outages at Koeberg in recent months, which have been attributed to fires and pollution. The Cape Town Chamber of Commerce and Industry last month said the total loss to business was estimated at R5,6bn. Businesses were also forced to spend a further R3,3bn on generators and other equipment to insulate them from the effects of future power problems. The figures were compiled from 255 responses it received in a survey of its 4600 members. The outages caused traffic chaos, forced factories and shops to close their doors and left food to rot in uncooled stores. Erwin said that, as in the case of a strike, it was difficult to calculate what the exact losses would be as in some cases lost production could be recovered. “Clearly there were costs. Exactly how big these costs are, no one knows,” he said. Eskom CEO Thulani Gcabashe said that while Eskom had not calculated the cost of the outages to business, it had customers that had lodged claims “over time”. Eskom would deal with these claims but it could not give a figure. He also said he could not put a cost on the repairs to the damaged Koeberg generator but these were being calculated. He said the rotor would have been the biggest cost item in the operation, but because it had been obtained in a swap deal with Electricite de France, this was not the case. In terms of the havoc caused by the 8cm bolt, Erwin said the investigation into how the unit was damaged was on track. He said the circumstances indicated it was either a serious act of negligence or deliberate. “Whatever it is we have to investigate it exceptionally carefully and that’s what we’re doing.” Erwin previously indicated the bolt did not get there by accident, giving rise to speculation that it was sabotage. “What gave me cause to make a statement was the circumstances surrounding the incident, which are being carefully investigated,” he said. The ministers responsible would make a statement in Parliament once the investigation was concluded. Gcabashe said good progress had been made in repairing Koeberg’s damaged generator, with the rotor arriving ahead of schedule and repairs on the stator, or wired housing, being completed and ready for testing. However, he warned that until both Koeberg units were operating together — estimated to be towards the end of July — load shedding was a possibility as Western Cape still has a shortfall of 400MW. But if the public responded to an electricity savings drive, which had been led by Eskom and various other role players, the possibility of power cuts could be lessened. Erwin and President Thabo Mbeki have downplayed the effect of the blackouts, saying the outages would not affect investment and would not derail efforts to lift economic growth to 6% from below 5%. Mbeki told Parliament last month that SA was not facing a power crisis and that plans were in place to increase capacity sharply over the next 20 years. Demand for power in SA is expected to outstrip current supply by next year and Eskom was moving ahead with plans to add more capacity to the grid by then. This included building a new baseload plant for the Cape Town region — the options for which Erwin said the board of Eskom was still considering. Erwin also said the Eskom board was considering options for a proposed new baseload plant for the Cape Town region. Gcabashe said a decision on the new plant would be made before the end of the year. The utility was in the early stages of a prefeasibility study on a new nuclear station but a gas-fired facility would be quicker to build, he said. With Reuters

· 615 Reads ·