Minister for Electricity and Energy Kgosientso Ramokgopa has said the restoration of Medupi Unit 4 generator, which has ramped up to an Energy Availability Factor (EAF) of 82% and the power station’s EAF to 84% from a R2 billion budget was a significant engineering feat by Eskom engineers.
However, he admitted there were still problems to be tackled at the Matimba power stations, which was blamed for the last bout of loadshedding after about a year’s hiatus.
Speaking during the tour of Medupi and Matimba power stations as part of the continued oversight on Eskom’s Recovery Plan, Ramokgopa said the contribution of the engineers, who were unheralded, unsung heroes was important as there had been a noticeable surge in performance.
He said the recovery of Unit 4 after four years of a catastrophic failure is an engineering feat in that the team has been able to bring to generation much earlier than anticipated, led by two young, black, exceptionally talented women leading a team of multidisciplinary engineers from the various fields across the spectrum. Ramokgopa especially picked out Medupi General Manager Thozama Gangi and Zandi Shange General Manager for projects at both Kusile and Medupi for praise.
Medupi’s Unit 4 generator blew up in August 2021 with expectations of a high cost for its return. Ramokgopa said, “The budget that has been set aside is R2 billion. The team will do reconciliation of how we performed against that of course. When we got a generator second hand from the Netherlands, we paid a fraction of the cost, about €14 million and I think I must congratulate the team for thinking outside the box and making sure we give the benefit to the South African taxpayer.”
Ramokgopa said he would consult with the Matimba Power station teams on what went wrong earlier this year leading to loadshedding.
“Matimba historically is one of our best performing power stations number one and two category, they spoiled us with the performance. When we got three units out, those units kept on not coming back at the time that they promised. It meant we had run out of headroom. It meant that we had to initiate loadshedding, so I am going back to Matimba in the same manner. I was there previously to congratulate them for the exceptional performance that they have been showing over a long period of time, but the ball has been dropped. We need to understand where we went wrong and help them to recover. I will be with them in the good and bad times. For Matimba this is a bad time,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said South Africa needed to look to the East to help economic and sectoral stability as the United States imposes 30% tariffs on South Africa and the natural diamond industry faces an onslaught from lab grown diamonds.
Speaking at the sidelines of stakeholder consultations with the diamond sector in Johannesburg, Mantashe said all sectors of the economy had to diversify as the US imposed the 30% tariffs.
“What is facing any sector in the economy is to diversify the markets, not focus on one market when that market collapses or imposes tariffs it collapses the sector, it must be diversified. China is a massive consumer of diamond products, India is very aggressive with beneficiation, so begin to look East while you are maintaining your markets in the West,” Mantashe said.
He said South Africa’s dropping on the world diamond production from the top five to position sixth called for increased exploration capacity.
“This is because of the poor exploration of diamonds in South Africa. We are number six, we have fallen out of the top five. That is an indication of a serious decline on our part. We want to grow that space and go back. We can only do that if we do exploration mining,” Mantashe said.
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