Eskom’s plant shut down worsens power cuts amid nepotism concerns

Eskom’s plant shut down worsens power cuts amid nepotism concerns

Admin 7 hours ago Energy, Uncategorized

Bloomberg

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd's own mishandling of a repair contract led to the closure of its Camden power plant, a move that worsened power cuts by South Africa's near-monopoly electricity provider, the company said. In its first detailed explanation of the shutdown, Eskom said the initial 635 million rand ($38 million) contract expired in 2018 amid questions about conflicts of interest and environmental regulations. With the work delayed, Eskom shut the 1,600-megawatt facility in April, saying the dam where it stores ash from burning coal was at risk of bursting. Eskom this month slashed the electricity supplied to South Africa by between 1,000 megawatts and 2,000 megawatts for a week. Power cuts, known locally as load-shedding, have hindered economic growth since 2008. "Load shedding is primarily as a result of high levels of unavailability of generation stations, including Camden,“ Eskom said in a response to questions. Eskom, which has debt of about 454 billion rand, is mired in corruption allegations, many of them related to contracts for the maintenance and construction of power plants. Numerous allegations have been aired at a state commission of inquiry. The first contract to build an ash-handling plant and dam