Power crisis: 'Worst is over'

2006-02-24 21:28

Michelé O'connor

Cape Town - Residents of the mother city may relax for the time being.

Eskom and the Cape Town city council are confident that the most serious electricity crisis to have hit the Western Cape, is over for now.

According to Trish da Silva, Eskom spokesperson, the power supply in the province should be back to normal again as from Friday.

"Eskom is not planning any further controlled power cuts in the Western Cape."

Charles Kadalie, the city council's manager: public lighting, said the city was not planning any power cuts for the weekend as the national grid was stable and Koeberg was still doing its part.

"I'm positive although I can not guarantee that there will not be any further power disruptions.

"However, the electricity department is on standby to deal with any problems that may occur."

'Worst is still to come'

According to Kadalie the electrical supply to Durbanville will be off from 05:00 until 19:00 on Sunday for planned maintenance work.

Meanwhile the Zimbabwean electricity supplier, Zesa, announced on Friday that Eskom would be investing R220M ($37M) in a power station in the north west of the country.

But Eskom has denied Zimbabwe newspaper reports that it would invest $37m toward the expansion and upgrade of its Zimbabwe counterpart's power station in the northwestern town of Hwange.

Meanwhile, a Cape engineer specialising in energy requirements, Andrew Kenny, told Die Burger that South Africa's electricity crisis had already been forecast in 2003.

"The crisis could have been averted had Eskom and the government done proper planning."

According to Kenny, Eskom now has its back against the wall.

"Eskom has been in trouble for the past number of years.

"I already explained in 2003 ... that the country's peak electricity supply would be insufficient between 2005 and 2007 should government not embark urgently on the construction of new power stations."

At that time Kenny was attached to the University of Cape Town and a co-writer of the energy plan.

"Government then decided not to build any new power plants and we are now saddled with the consequences," he said.

"The electricity shortage will only become worse."

Kenny doubted whether the Koeberg number 1 unit would be able to start up before unit 2 had to be shut down for maintenance.

The generator of unit 1 broke down last year when a bolt was left in the machinery after maintenance work.

Mr Thulani Gcabashe, Eskom's chief executive, said on Thursday Eskom had managed to find a spare part for the generator in Europe.

However, Kenny says Eskom is making empty promises.

"Should both Koeberg units have to be shut down simultaneously the Cape is in for a dreary, cold and dark winter," he said.

- Die Burger