The engineering fraternity says it is committed to being part of the solution to help resolve the country’s power generation constraints.

This comes after the a combined engineering discipline based representative group under the auspices of Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) met with the Minister of Public enterprise, Pravin Gordhan on Friday to discuss their concerns and solutions over the strained supply challenges at Eskom.

A framework

Engineering bodies have been instrumental in designing, engineering and building the South African electricity supply and infrastructure over the years which is why they sat down with the minister to discuss operational challenges, engineering, technical capacity, restructuring and the financial viability faced by the utility.

Following this engagement, the engineering community has been asked to propose a framework for working together with Eskom and the ministry to find solutions to the operational, logistical, systems, maintenance and capital project  challenges faced by Eskom.

Analysis of challenges

The professional engineering bodies also expressed their willingness to work with local and external experts to tackle and solve the extensive challenges faced.

The Minister in consultation with ECSA tasked the CEO of the South Africa Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE), Sicelo Xulu to present him with their analysis of the challenges facing Eskom and to propose how the South African Engineering fraternity could get involved in, and assist, Eskom and the Minster to develop a coherent plan to achieve operational stability, effective, suitable maintenance and system resilience in the electricity network.