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System Operations and Planning division |
| Mandate |
Provide an integrative function for the reliable development, operation and risk management of the interconnected power system.
| Highlights | Challenges | |||
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Benchmarking
System Operations and Planning participates in the International Comparison for Transmission System Operators, an international group of about 20 transmission system operators. System Operations and Planning has also recently joined the Very Large Power Grid Operators (VLPGO) group, comprising the largest transmission grid and system operators in the world. The division achieved top quartile performance, but resources are higher than the average system operator.
Material issues
Electricity demand levels were close to 2009/10 levels in 2010/11. Eskom will rely on energy-efficiency measures, as the supply-demand balance will remain tight beyond winter 2011 until new power stations come online.
While the peak demand during the winter of 2010 was 36 664MW, the current forecast peak for winter 2011 is 37 553MW.
Based on current assumptions, South Africa’s energy gap will peak in 2012, when demand will exceed supply by 9TWh, equivalent to about 1 000MW of baseload capacity. The projected gap will only go down to zero in 2016, and the reduction depends strongly on Eskom’s build programme, the Department of Energy’s independent power producers project, the renewable energy process, and the roll-out of the funded demand-side management programme.
System Operations and Planning executes and facilitates solutions to maintain the power system with minimal disruptions, taking into account real constraints. The focus is on balancing supply and demand and the availability of delivery networks with long-term asset health and sustainability. The current challenge includes creating a wide enough maintenance window for the generation fleet to pro-actively assure future performance.
Key objectives- Ensure that supply-side initiatives are implemented by improving existing generation fleet performance by 2% in three years; complete planned new build capacity on time or earlier; upgrade the capacity of some existing units; procure 1 025MW renewable generation in the next three years; and increase available capacity by contracting municipal power stations and independent power producers (including renewable and co-generation), including finalising a framework for the relationship between Eskom and the independent power producers for their generators
- Reduce demand by accelerating the demand-side management programmes to install energy-efficient technologies and drive behavioural change; continue to implement the demand market participation programme and the demand response pilot programme; ensure that Eskom’s own internal energy efficiency programme is delivered on
- Establish a safety net for the residual demand gap through additional demand response initiatives, an energy conservation scheme, and the ability to use the open-cycle gas turbines if required
- Pursue partnerships with private and public partners to implement the medium-term risk mitigation project
- Secure the national power system by implementing and enhancing the national code of practice for emergency load reduction.
Eskom’s transmission licence requires the annual publication of a document detailing how the transmission network will develop in the next five years.
The details that are required of how the transmission network will develop in the next five years are:- A description of the acquisition of servitudes for strategic purposes
- A list of planned investments, including costs
- Diagrams of the planned changes to the transmission system
- An indication of the impact on customers
- Any other information as specified by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa from time to time.
A further requirement is that public forums are held with stakeholders to facilitate a joint planning process. The transmission development plan that covers the years 2011 to 2020 was published in 2010/11.
See www.eskom.co.za/annreport11/008.html for further details.
New assets
Over 6 000km of 765kV and 8 000km of 400kV new transmission lines have been approved or proposed over the 10-year transmission development plan period. Major network reinforcements are required for the supply to the Western Cape (South and West grids) and KwaZulu-Natal (East grid). The large volume of 400kV transmission lines are part of the more meshed transmission network being developed to improve reliability and network security. The integration of new power stations into the developing Limpopo West power pool (Medupi and Coal 3 close to Matimba) also requires significant lengths of transmission line as they are very remote from the main load centres. Some 1 700km of new 800kV high-voltage direct current lines are required for exporting excess power from Coal 3 directly to load centres in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (Central and East grids).
The addition of over 72 000MVA of transformer capacity is an indication of both the increasing load demand and the increasing capacity requirements of customers.
About 2 800MVars of capacitive support is required for areas of the network under contingency conditions to ensure that the required voltage levels are maintained. They also improve system efficiency by reducing network losses.
High-voltage lines near Johannesburg.
From a grid code perspective, the current transmission system is not fully compliant with the reliability criteria as stipulated in the South African grid code and a substantial number of projects in the TDP are required for this purpose.
It is Eskom’s intent that the transmission system should attain compliance in terms of the reliability criteria by 2018.
Eskom is committed to facilitating the entry of independent power producers in collaboration with government, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa and project developers. Eskom has already signed agreements with independent power producers and will continue to do so within the framework of the integrated resource plan and the multi-year pricing determination.
Government is preparing the commercial documentation to procure renewable energy through the renewable energy feed-in tariff programme (REFIT), for release in the near future. Eskom is assisting government in this process and will be the buyer of this energy.
To fulfil the ambition that independent power producers account for 30% of South Africa’s generation capacity in the next 20 years requires a different approach to providing network access to independent generators. Eskom is preparing for this complex new business, and will provide a grid access framework to manage future independent power producer connections to the Eskom networks.
The grid access framework will be managed by a new unit (the grid access unit set up in the new Customer Services division) that will ensure efficient internal operational processes for independent power producers. Eskom’s existing single buyer office will continue in its role of facilitating the signing of power purchase agreements with IPPs. The single buyer office has been ringfenced in a separate organisational unit to accommodate concerns that Eskom may have conflicts of interest in procuring from IPPs, provide transparency, and include external parties in the procurement processes.
- React to threats and vulnerabilities from changes in the internal and external environment
- Operate at elevated levels of stress without failure for extended periods of time
- Respond to a shock by containing the impact (severity and duration) of the event
- Recover quickly in a co-ordinated manner
- Implement learning from near-misses and recovery experiences.
Various internal and external exercises were run before the 2010 FIFA World CupTM and in early 2011 to test the resilience structures in Eskom and South Africa. Formal codes of practice have been developed and published. Formal processes to identify areas of vulnerability and track progress on risk treatment plans on a quarterly basis have been put in place and are improving in sophistication and robustness.
Current performance
Statistical information
| 2011 | 2010 | ||||
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| Peak demand on integrated system excluding load reductions | 36 664MW | 35 850MW | |||
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| Peak demand on integrated system including load reductions | 36 970MW | 35 912MW | |||
National control centre in Simmerpan, Johannesburg.
