Eskom Workshop At South Coast Regional Office

A very informative and well presented workshop was held on the 17th of November at our new Master Builders KwaZulu-Natal conference facility in Shelly Beach. Association Members, Built Environment Professionals and Industry Stakeholders were addressed by a delegation of seven Eskom representatives, some of which had traveled from as far as Pietermaritzburg. 

Eugene van Heerden is the planning engineer who is responsible for the current electricity network and upgrades necessary for sufficient supply to the Margate Master Plan. He addressed the workshop with a well prepared presentation that included slides depicting present constraints, as well as planned upgrades to enhance the network and to ensure sustainability of power going forward.

With regard to supply issues, they were open about the fact that poor initial planning on their part had played a significant role, they did however also stress that a number of critical occurrences beyond their control, resulted in the gravity of the situation escalating appreciably. All who attended appreciated their honesty and frankness and walked away with a clear understanding of what sort of processes are required and what sort of timeframes they are looking at for implementation.

An interesting constraint mentioned was that due to environmental concerns, they would not be able to employ overhead cables across the Umtawana River in the Wildcoast area. To overcome this they plan to tunnel underneath the river bed, to enable supply across to the rural areas. They made it known that at present; there are still 700 000 households in KwaZulu-Natal who do not have electricity supply.

For the many owners of residential plots South of Margate who could not get supply of electricity due to the constraints addressed, there is good news. With some upgrades already completed and others still underway, spare capacity has become available that will for now be allocated for residential only. Bigger developments will be looked at and accommodated as the supply comes available.

Eskom have offered to address us again in 2011 at our March Roadshow, this time displaying products that have already been identified, have proven to save electricity, and that would also be subsidized. It was also suggested that the Association be used as an independent channel to liaise with Eskom, on Energy saving mechanisms and initiatives.

Hans Stols | South Coast Regional Manager