Eskom tightens reins on power station managers
The Eskom board has pledged its support for group CE André de Ruyter's decision, on September 3, to suspend the Tutuka and Kendal power station managers, pending disciplinary inquiries.
The decision was taken after load-shedding was escalated from Stage 2 to Stage 4 on September 2 and 3.
Eskom says there is 5 000 MW of capacity currently under planned maintenance, while 12 units totalling 10 950 MW have experienced unplanned breakdowns.
This had culminated in a 3 000 MW energy demand deficit, which was aggravated by higher demand as a result of the cold front that many parts of the country experienced.
“While it is true that the ageing fleet is plagued by legacy issues of neglect and omitted maintenance, and is therefore susceptible to unpredictable breakdowns, it is also true that the situation is being exacerbated by serious issues of apathetic behaviour by some management staff,” the utility states.
During a meeting between the board and executive management of Eskom and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, it was agreed that an urgent culture change and high-level competence enhancement across the utility’s 44 000 staff should be accelerated, promoted and strongly supported.
This while further interventions are ongoing at the Kriel and Duvha power stations.
Eskom says it has held engagements with other power stations managers to ensure that the previous culture of weak consequence management will no longer be tolerated.
De Ruyter has, in the meantime, deployed three senior power generation managers to the Duvha, Kriel, Tutuka and Kendal power stations to provide leadership and oversight in person.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation