Was Andre De Ruyter delaying Eskom progress?

Eskom former CEO Andre De Ruyter left the buckling power utility during a cloud of uncertainty.

De Ruyter during an interview made several notable points that fingered several key people at the power utility, which could have been responsible for the power utility’s buckling system.

Following the appointment of a temporary solution at Eskom and the appointment of Eskom board head Mpho Makwana, the power utility noted an improvement in Eskom’s power generation fleet.

Either Eskom found a working recipe to its power issues or De Ruyter was steering the ship the wrong way, whichever it is, may it not be short-lived considering there’s a massive march on the cards, a direct result of recurring outages and the country’s frustration.

Eskom said six coal-fired power stations achieved an Energy Availability Factor (EAF) of 70.

“Three of these power stations, Camden, Duvha and Matla, have been on a sustained upward trend as a result of a reduction of plant breakdowns and the return to service of a number of units that were on unplanned breakdowns. Lethabo, Matimba and Medupi have been experiencing continued good performance and remain among Eskom’s three best performing stations.

“In addition, Lethabo was able to sustain performance after a quick recovery following a wet coal incident experienced last week, due to flooding after excessive rainfall.”

“While this is still early progress, it shows a positive trajectory from actions taken to recover Eskom generation plants. This is consistent with Eskom’s target to achieve 70% EAF by 2025 financial year,” said Eskom’s Acting Group Chief Executive, Calib Cassim.

Makwana, said: “The marked improvement in performance at Camden, Duvha and Matla as well as the sustained commendable performance at Lethabo, Matimba and Medupi gives assurance that if we continue to apply an all-hands-on-deck-approach we will continue to improve the energy availability”

“I specifically commend the various teams at these power stations for the great work and also applaud all the Eskom employees for their continued hard work and dedication,” added Makwana.

The organisation continues to pursue the generation recovery programmes to recover operations and achieve sustained improvements in generation performance.

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