Saturday, March 28, 2009

Electricity Swaziland

Electricity Swaziland or in this case Swaziland Electric Company (SEC).


Folks, we are now in Mbabane, Swaziland. First appearance leads one to believe that things are going well in this environment, but lets dig deeper and see if they really are. We are going to our analysis by the kilowatt-hour production method instead of the Megawatt of production because that is what is available to us.

For the year ending December 21, 2008; the electricity consumption is roughly 1,300 Megawatt-hour or 1,300,000,000 kilowatt-hour. One would be tempted to think that is a lot and it is, but wait a second, the actual production was approximately 500,000,000 kilowatt-hour. Folks, that is a deficit of approximately 8,000,000,000 kilowatt-hour. That was imported!!! And where was it imported from? Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, or maybe Republic of South Africa. Folks, the information water here is as clear as mud if you get my drift.

There have been proposals and tenders, for new coal-fired power station to produce over 1,000 Megawatt of power, but that has so far not materialized, and until it does, the only thing we have to go with is the current usage and production numbers.

What kind of game do we have on this reserve, cheetahs or hippos? There seem to be a little more hippos than cheetahs, and since majority carries, the hippos seem to be winning.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Electricity Lesotho

This is an exercise in futility, but this blog is an equal opportunity, so every country gets their turn.
To start with, Lesotho (LEC) gets her electricity from ESCOM (if you do not know who or what ESKOM is, please go read my last blog).

To start with, less than 18% of the total population of Lesotho have access to electricity. With this kind of number, how can you do any development or exploration. One would be tempted to ask, exploration for what. The answer is simple, Lesotho is completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. In simple terms, it is embedded inside South Africa at every possible crossing. It is mountainous. If South Africa is awash in gold, diamond and other resources, there must be a vein or two that have strayed into Lesotho.

But getting back to the gist of the blog, when you no electricity, how can you develop you resource. How about diesel generators, how about coal-fired power stations.
The whole thing is like two divers, sharing the same oxygen tank, and mask. ESKOM can barely supply South Africa with electricity, so how can one expect her to export any to some other country.

I am gong to make it simple and spare both you and I the agony of wondering in this landscape. I cannot seem to find a single cheetah in this zoo, only hippos.