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News and announcements from EE Publishers Issue 60, August 2009

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Independent power producers (IPPs) organise collectively to take on Eskom
  
An interview with Doug Kuni, managing director of the newly formed South African Independent Power Producers Association (SAIPPA)
 
by Chris Yelland, managing director of EE Publishers

In this interview, Chris Yelland, managing director of EE Publishers, questions Doug Kuni, formerly from Eskom Generation, now a private consultant and managing director of the newly formed South African Independent Power Producers Association (SAIPPA), on the issues surrounding Eskom and IPPs in South Africa.


Note to media: This interview may be used and published by interested media in whole or in part, as required, provided that the source is acknowledged.
 
To comment and respond to the interview, and/or to any of the views and positions expressed, visit EE Publishers' blog:
"The best from EE Publishers..." , click on the title of the article of interest, and respond.

Read the full interview and get the answers to the questions:

  1. Mr. Kuni, to what extent do you believe that South Africa needs IPPs and industrial co-generation as part of the solution to South Africa's generation capacity crisis, and what advantages do IPPs bring?
  2. There has been talk of getting IPPs into the generation mix in South Africa for over ten years, but we still see few signs of progress. What is really going on, and what is it that is holding South Africa back?
  3. Do you believe that Eskom can be an honest broker as a generation project specifier, evaluator, adjudicator, power purchaser and competitor of IPPs, or is the conflict of interest a big problem?
  4. To what extent do you believe Eskom is hostile to IPPs and tries to keep them out?
  5. Please can you respond to statements often made to justify Eskom's new build programme, namely that IPPs had not come to the table because they could not compete with Eskom's very efficient and superior generation operation, and that this was therefore some kind of market failure?
  6. Please can you respond to statements often made by Eskom that it generates electricity at about half the price offered by IPPs, and that the country should therefore be wary of the IPP option?
  7. Eskom has commissioned some 2000 MW of OCGT (open cycle gas turbine) generation in the Cape. Since the operating costs are very high, has this helped or hindered the situation in South Africa, and should this have been left to IPPs?
  8. With the extremely high cost of operating the OCGTs, and the cost of Eskom's new build programme spiralling upwards, how do IPPs feel about Eskom's claims that they (IPPs) come at a high cost compared to Eskom?
  9. Is the current Eskom generation build programme (i.e. the return-to-service of mothballed power stations, OCGTs in the Western Cape, the Medupi and Kusile coal-fired power stations, and the Ingula and Tubatse pumped storage schemes) South Africa's best and least-cost option for generation capacity to meet the demand forecast over the next 20 years and more?
  10. Is there adequate understanding within government, the DoE, DTI, DPE, Treasury, Regulator and Eskom of the electricity supply industry and its dynamics?
  11. In an environment of severe government and Eskom funding constraints, to what extent can IPPs alleviate the burden being felt by Eskom, the Treasury and the country?
  12. What do you make of the government and Eskom's funding of the development of the pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR), and should they be involved in this?
  13. Should Eskom involve itself in wind, concentrating solar, photo-voltaic solar, small hydro and other renewable energy projects, or should this be left to IPPs?
... (more)
(To comment and respond to the interview, and/or to any of the views and positions expressed, visit EE Publishers' blog: "The best from EE Publishers..." , click on the title of the article of interest, and respond.)
 
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Independent power producers (IPPs) organise collectively to take on Eskom
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