SECUNDA OPERATIONS:
Sasol tackles power outages to secure steady production
Interrupted power supply was one of a number of issues that dragged down Sasol’s results for the year to end-June
Sasol has taken matters into its own hands to ensure it has a reliable power supply at its Secunda synfuels operation after several unplanned electricity supply interruptions from Eskom over the past year have had a “significant” financial effect on the company. Interrupted power supply was one of a number of issues that dragged down Sasol’s results for the year to end-June. Sasol’s earnings more than halved from R21.5bn in 2017 to R10.1bn in 2018. Although Sasol joint president and CEO Bongani Nqwababa would not be drawn on exactly how much the disruptions in Eskom’s electricity supply had cost the company, he said it was “significant” — enough to have been flagged in the annual results. Nqwababa said the interruptions attributed to Eskom related to maintenance issues. Sasol would now introduce a redundancy (a duplication of systems) to increase the reliability of supply. A single line feeding power to the plant would now become two, providing a back-up in the event of a power fail...
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