Load shedding: Whither power supply after shutdown?
RETHABILE MOHONO
MASERU– There are mixed signals regarding whether to the nation should expect load shedding or not during the planned maintenance of the Phase I Water Transfer and Delivery Tunnels. The scheduled maintenance will result in stoppage of water transfer from Katse to ‘Muela (Transfer Tunnel – 45km), which will mean there will not be any generation of electricity at the ‘Muela Hydropower Station (MHP). There will therefore be a total shutdown of the water delivery system for six months. Addressing parliament this week, Minister of Energy Prof Nqosa Mahao highlighted the potential of an energy crisis in Lesotho due to the maintenance of the ‘Muela Hydropower Station.
He emphasized that this situation arises because no funds were allocated in the 2024/25 budget for the purchase of electricity during this period. The estimated amount required for purchasing electricity during the maintenance period is about M320 million. However, Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) spokesman, Tšepang Ledia, told this publication yesterday that there will be no power crisis although ’Muela hydroelectricity plant will not be working for six months.
“As mentioned previously, we remain committed to our previous statement. It is a fact that the funds required for purchasing electricity will be sourced from LEC’s own resources, not from the National Budget,” he said, noting that LEC is typically not allocated a budget. In a previous interview, Ledia said this is not the first time that ‘Muela will be under maintenance. “The same thing happened in 2019 and we had to partner with South Africa and Mozambique to supplement electricity supplies,” he said.
“Even now we are still going to partner with those countries. We are going to lose nothing because the same value that was charged by ’Muela Hydropower Project will still be used,” he said. Earlier this year, Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) announced that there is an upcoming planned maintenance of the Phase I Water Transfer and Delivery Tunnels.
During this time, LHDA states that there will be no transfer of water from Katse to ‘Muela (Transfer Tunnel – 45km), which will result in no generation of electricity at the ‘Muela Hydropower Station (MHP). There will also be no delivery of water from Lesotho to South Africa through the Delivery Tunnel – 37km (Delivery Tunnel South 15km and Delivery Tunnel North 22km). The Phase I Water Transfer and Delivery Tunnels will undergo planned maintenance, resulting in a complete shutdown of the water delivery system for six months The maintenance will take place from October 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025 and the estimated cost of the maintenance is about M300 million.
In an interview with this publication earlier this week LHDA Public Relations Officer, Mpho Brown, said under normal circumstances, Lesotho earns over M100 million per month. However, he said during an outage there won’t be any royalties for six months, so LHDA decided to come up with a plan of increasing send water before maintenance and after to ensure loss of royalties is minimised. “Because of the mitigation that I have explained above, that we will deliver more water before and more water after, the loss in royalty revenue for the year will be minimized,” he said.
Brown further indicated the two biggest impacts of the outage during maintenance are that there will not be any transfer of water or generation of hydropower in order to mitigate against the complete loss of royalties revenue during the outage. “LHDA will increase the levels of water delivered between now and October, as well as immediately after the outage. With electricity the same is not possible, therefore LHDA has been working with the government and with LEC to keep them informed of this planned maintenance, and they in turn have made and continue to make the requisite arrangements to ensure continued supply of electricity during that time,” he said.
So, to quantify it, Brown said normally Lesotho delivers 780 million cubic meters (MCM) of water to SA. However, between now and October, LHDA plans to increase delivery and send 700 MCM, which is 90% of the total expected for the year. “So by December when the year ends, we would have only lost approximately 10% of royalty revenue, which we will make up for with increased delivery of water after the maintenance,” he said.
During the briefing with the Media, LHDA’s Chief Executive, Tente Tente, shared that in 2019, during the inspections of the Transfer and Deliver Tunnels, it was established that the painting on all sections of the tunnels that are steel lined was wearing off and, if left for too long unattended there was a risk that steel lining would corrode. The specialists advised that the tunnel could safely be operated for a period of around five (5) years (say October 2019 to October 2024). Safe operation of the system significantly beyond the five years could not be guaranteed.
He said LHDA plans to use the opportunity created by the 2024 Tunnels Outage to undertake other routine maintenance on the ‘Muela Hydropower Station and other related components. This will include but is not limited to the replacement of the process’s controllers of the MHP Unit 1. The station houses three units that generate hydropower. The 10-year(s) inspection and refurbishment of Units 1 and 3 have recently been completed. The 10-year(s) inspection and refurbishment of Unit 2 and process’s controllers is planned for February to May 2024.
“LHDA will undertake extensive maintenance and repair works in the tunnels. This will require a complete shutdown of the station to empty the tunnels of any water and make way for maintenance teams to enter the tunnels and carry out the repair work. It is a sensitive, and extensive job that is done with the highest degree of safety considerations and care, and thus requires thorough planning, execution, and post maintenance inspections before water is released back into the tunnels,” he said.
On the other hand, Reentseng Molapo, LHDA’s Divisional Manager for Development & Operations indicated that the maintenance and repair work is expected to last about four months in total whilst preparations, which include emptying of the tunnels, will occupy the first month. Final inspections and refilling the tunnels with water, he added, will take up the final month, bringing the total outage period to six months.
Though the LEC spokesman said there is no electricity crisis to be expected, Prof Mahao, went on to say judging by the perilous state of LEC finances, it is safe to assert that the company is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) so he said he had asked Auditor-General, ‘Mathabo Makenete, to conduct an in-depth forensic audit of the power utility.
Prof Mahao emphasized the importance of conducting a forensic audit to identify the contributing factors that led to the company’s near financial distress. He expressed his belief that LEC was in a critical condition, resembling an intensive care unit, primarily due to the overwhelming burden of loans that the company was unable to repay.
Prof Mahao further stated that Makabelo Matsoso, the Finance Manager of LEC, informed the portfolio committee about the outstanding debt of approximately M300 million owed to various bulk suppliers, such as Mozambique’s EDM, South Africa’s Eskom, ‘Muela Hydropower Station, and Lesotho Electricity Generation Company (LEGCO). He added that is also said that the company is in serious cash flow problems that affects its operations. Apart from that, he raised concerns on service tariffs that have not been adjusted in a long time due to politics. “Part of LEC’s problem is politicians. This is because if the tariff charge for consumers is M1, 60, we are afraid that if it increases we will lose votes,” said, explaining the service tariff needs to be increased to at least M2,42.
