Looks my block. But come the night neighbours falling into this block reported two outcomes
It’s really confusing. I get that they have said that they are working on a correct schedule, but that was promised for COB Monday. Still nothing. So we are kept in the dark in two respects.
It is late but I guess something is at least moving forward a bit
The project in question is the 20 MW/100 MWh Hex BESS site, which has been built on Eskom’s distribution network in Worcester in the Western Cape
Eskom distribution group executive Monde Bala tells Engineering News that the seven other projects are all progressing on schedule, despite some initial delays at some sites.
Besides Hex, Phase 1 also comprises the 80 MW/320 MWh Skaapvlei, the 5 MW/30 MWh Graafwater and the 9.5 MW/45 MWh Paleisheuwel sites, also in the Western Cape; the 8 MW/32 MWh Elandskop and 40 MW/160 MWh Pongola projects, in KwaZulu-Natal; the 1.5 MW/6.16 MWh Rietfontein site, in the Northern Cape; and the 35 MW/140 MWh Melkhout site, in the Eastern Cape.
Eskom has also placed Phase 2, through which it aims to introduce a further 144 MW/616 MWh of BESS across four sites, on hold. This, while it clarifies with National Treasury whether BESS projects can be included as part of the capital projects that the distribution business can undertake without breaching the terms of the R254-billion Eskom debt-relief conditions.
Eventually 1 unit done, been tracking that but even Eskom is not saying much till now.
GoodGroetnis
Interesting that they do it here first. No, no speculation on why, just plain interesting.
I think the reason is that us here in the western cape are quite far from the generation units. Most of them in the northern part of the country.
So i quest there is alot of transmission losses that occur from there to here and the fact that we have quite alot of wind farms. Hence the Western Cape is first.
Likely because of the benefits of a BESS close to non dispachable Solar and Wind in the Cape. In that way they can save on losses, and transmission capacity constraints can be alleviated as well.
BESSGroetnis
I was wondering if “Hex” means what I think it does 
The part that is important …
With the obvious caveat of reading this with a bag of salt next to me (it being BT and all)… this is the part that I like:
“He has been given generation powers, which were taken from the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources,” Mbalula said. “The most important thing is to have power in order to be in a position to direct what needs to happen without asking from somebody else.”
That means he doesn’t have to ask permission from Mantashe. That is good. There is no world where that isn’t good.
The part about the support for the ANC eroding, that was written by the BT journalist. That is a perfect example of how you insert an opinion and turn it into fact, in today’s media.
Colleague of mine recently told me how this exact trick is used in Germany, by right-leaning newspapers, to suggest that a crime was perpetrated by an immigrant long before this is really known. You just insert a little paragraph, a bit like this: This latest murder happened only weeks after “insert case where an immigrant was involved”. Factually 100% true… but also not.
Of course I am not arguing that giving the man more power isn’t election related. It probably is. But I would argue that is how it is supposed to work. If you don’t want to lose… you need to do something. In this case… probably too little too late, but the mechanism is sound at least.
Being my usual self, and having seen this before…. More power to not seek permission, all in the name of making progress in this situation (say emergency without saying emergency) what could possibly go wrong. Not like state capture or tenderpreneurs are waiting in them wings now are they?
NoodgevalGroetnis
I agree.
Mantashe losing power over Eskom … let’s see what comes of this first, if it actually will happen. Rama has this tendency to say the right things, then nothing happens, hence I left that part out.
The other thing in the back of my mind, so what he gets more powers … there ain’t no money in the budget for him to really do anything with that “power”.
May I remind ya all of Tshwane and our dear minister and the prepaid meter debacle.
PEU prepaid smart meter contract of 2012: In 2012, PEU started as a contractor rendering advisory services on how the City could save money by implementing smart prepaid meters. But PEU ended up as a service provider. This after its subsidiary, Tshwane Utility Management Services, was awarded a tender to install smart prepaid electricity meters in Tshwane. When the contract was terminated because it was discovered by the Auditor-General to have been awarded irregularly, the City of Tshwane nevertheless agreed to pay out R950-million to PEU as compensation for the termination. In 2018, the North Gauteng High Court finally ruled that both the original contract and its termination deal were unconstitutional.
Failed Tribe One music festival: R65-million was spent on a music festival headlined by US singer Nicki Minaj that never took place. Minaj had been billed to perform at a three-day music festival in September 2012 in the Tshwane suburb of Cullinan.
Former Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga said Tshwane was “technically bankrupt” when the DA won control of the metro after the August 2016 local government elections. He said his predecessor, Ramokgopa, had inflated the number of staff to more than 900, costing almost R250-million a year in salaries.
BekommerdeGroetnis
not done there first… just closest to completion there first.
There are multiple BESS sites
Looks like Elandskop likely was first to start construction (December 2022) but firm dates are difficult to find. Reasons why some take longer could be any of multiple factors during design/construction (e.g. Elandskop and Pongola look like they might have more EIA mitigation requirements during construction than Hex). Melkhout and Rietfontein had to go through tender again (no idea if any bids were received/tender awared since).
In terms of general BESS site selection the HEX EIA report indicates:
The following criteria were considered in the selection of suitable sites for the BESS:
• Proximity of load customers to existing or confirmed future renewable generators (the World Bank requested that sites be identified where the batteries can be charged by renewable projects).
• Situations where the distribution network will see notable benefits from the introduction of BESS, via one of the following mechanisms:
o Reduction in electricity supply losses;
o Peak load reduction resulting in thermal load reduction on critically loaded network components;
o Peak load reduction allowing for deferment of capital strengthening or mitigation of negative effects on the local economy for already delayed capital strengthening;
o Reduction in loading / congestion of upstream High Voltage networks;
o Improvement of local network attributes and quality of supply; and
o Peak load reduction where the peak load is concurrent with national system peak (i.e. winter evenings);
• Availability of sufficient Medium Voltage connection capacity for the BESS; and
• Availability of sufficient space at the substation for installation of the BESS containers
to this seemingly also extended duration for land acquisition and absence of Environmental Impact Assessment complications were considered.
As per the Hex EIA report, it seems that a big factor specific for Hex as site
Eskom proposes to install grid-scale battery storage at the existing Hex Substation site, mainly as opportunity for capital deferment, which would otherwise require Eskom to embark on normal network strengthening through building new networks and major refurbishments.
Apparently according to Eskom Distribution Group Executive Monde Bala, Pongola and then Elandskop are expected to be completed next (no specifics).
This is super cool.
Keeping below the radar, doesn’t fit the coal narrative😜
Oops was replying to Sarel’s post😊
@Sarel.Wagner, I was asked by @Robert to pass you a note… 
→
As far I can tell, everything coming from them caders is lies:
Photo: twitter/MbalulaFikile
Fikile Mbalula, the Secretary-General of the ANC, recently reiterated a claim that an $8.8-billion climate finance pact is responsible for the recurrent power outages in South Africa. This statement was made during a debate between political party leaders in Johannesburg at the 10th Ambrosetti CEO Dialogue ,talking on the theme “The Future of South Africa.
Mbalula asserted that the closure of coal-fired plants, as part of efforts to secure climate finance, is the cause of the blackouts currently plaguing the country’s economy. He linked the decommissioning of some coal plants directly to the ongoing load shedding.
https://eskomnews.co.za/fact-check-debunking-fikile-mbalulas-claim-on-load-shedding/
PantsonfireGroetnis
For what it’s worth…
Medium_Term_System_Adequacy_Outlook_2024-2028.pdf (1.3 MB)
But the follwing table is a worry for all of us… Eskom struggling to keep the frequency stable with a number of over/under incidences!
From same for the previous table:
“However, actual reserve provision is underperforming, indicating a power system critically short of operating reserves, which poses a risk to the system’s ability to arrest frequency deviations.”
Those excursions is getting worse, and more frequently…
The below image shows the wonderful (sic) optimism of the report. the trend is distinctly down, but the Eksdom prediction is almost the exact opposite, no sending bad news in fear of termination…
Then this from same:
However, the study has assumed a high EAF scenario starting at 59% reaching 68% by end of 2028 (averaging 65.2% for the MTSAO 2023 study period), which assumes that, although the maintenance planned in the Generation Recovery Plan has made some gains in arresting the decline in plant performance with a recovery seen year to date, the actual monthly EAF has been lower than initially expected in the recovery plan. The high EAF scenario is, hence, 1% to 3% lower than current Generation targets to accommodate the risk of lower-than-expected recovery for FY2024. The EAF scenarios used in the study are shown in Figure 5 below.
HeldisbadGroetnis
After those batts @Village_Idiot posted, (I new of that, but did not think it would happen) I’m getting an idea to consider wondering about “what if” there are things happening behind the scenes that are rarely spoken of in the main media, as it probably is way above the “man on the streets” interest, that ever so quietly things are being put in place for selected areas in SA?
And when that works, more can be put in place … T&Cs and all that.
Now I don’t think for one minute we can sit back and relax, you need big arse coal burning to still power SA … but what if pockets are slowly being sorted, as money, investment, and infrastructure allow?
… or maybe I’m WAY too early to consider anything …
