8 / 37
May 2016
News
T
he state energy supplier has
decreased the usage of diesel
from R800 million to R40 mil-
lion in five months due to improved
performance of its base-load fleet.
The utility will continue with its rig-
orous planned maintenance without
implementing load shedding while
also minimising usage of the OCGTs.
With regards to the Generation
Sustainability Strategy, the utility
aims to achieve 80%plant availability,
10% planned maintenance and 10%
unplannedmaintenance over theme-
dium term. The adherence to regular
scheduled maintenance is managed
through the Tetris planning tool,
which schedules outages based on
forecasted demand andmaintenance
requirements.
According to Eskom, a key aspect
of this includes having a strict winter
and summer maintenance budget
that comprises 8.5 GW for winter and
11.5 GW for summer. Whileworking on
Eskom’s board of directors’ said that the reduction in unplanned
outages contributed to improvements of plant availability, and the
sharp reduction in the usage of open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs).
Eskom on solid ground
the performance of the existing ageing
fleet, Eskom has also fast tracked the
building of new generating capacity.
In March, Unit 3 of the Ingula
Pumped Storage Scheme was syn-
chronised to the national power grid,
marking a key milestone towards the
full commercial operation of the unit,
ahead of the scheduled deadline of
January 2017.
Unit 3 is the first of four units at the
Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme to be
connected to the national grid. Once
completed, all four units of Ingula
will produce a total of 1 332 MW and
this will go a long way to meeting the
country’s rising electricity demand.
The capacity expansion pro-
gramme will be completed within
the next five years and will increase
Eskom’s generation capacity by
17 384 MW; transmission lines by
9 756 km; and substation capacity by
42 470 MVA. This will enable Eskom to
provide security of electricity supply
to South African homes and busi-
nesses, poweringeconomic expansion
and extending electricity to millions
of residential households, who cur-
rently rely on other energy sources for
domestic usage.
Eskomhas successfully completed
5 620 self-funded electrification con-
nections as well as 1 080 farmconnec-
tions during the course of the 2014/15
financial year. In addition, together
with Department of Energy, Eskom
has connected more than 4,6 mil-
lion households to the national grid
since 1991.
■
Home improvements growth in US
H
ome improvement spending
is expected to increase by
8,6% by the end of 2016 and
then accelerate to 9,7% by the first
quarter of next year. According to the
Remodelling Futures Program at the
Joint Centre for Housing Studies of
Harvard University, “Ongoing gains
in home prices and sales are encour-
aging as more homeowners pursue
larger-scale improvement projects
this year,” says Chris Herbert, Manag-
ing Director of the Joint Centre.
“On the strength of these gains, the
level of annual spending for remodel-
ling and renovations is expected to
reach US$325 billion nationally by
early 2017.”
“Our recalibrated indicator fore-
casts a broader segment of the nation-
al residential remodellingmarket that
includes home improvements and
maintenance activity for the owner-
occupier housing market,” says Abbe
Will, a research analyst in the Remod-
elling Futures Program at the Joint
Centre. “With this re-benchmarking,
the Leading Indicator of Remodelling
Activity, now more accurately sizes
the remodellingmarket and continues
to anticipate major turning points in
home owners spending.”
■