South Africans were recently subject to stage six blackouts amid an unprotected strike at Eskom.
The President says skilled personnel are being sourced locally and from abroad, including former Eskom staff to help with generation issues at the power utility.
The President also says additional generation capacity will also be urgently procured in the next three months from plants with excess of capacity.
President Ramaphosa addressed the nation earlier on plans to fix the country’s energy crisis.
President’s address below:
Other measures announced by the President include, allowing private households to generate solar power and sell it back into the grid, procurement of additional baseload capacity from renewables and gas and accelerating private sector involvement in energy generation.
President Ramaphosa further announced the establishment of a National Energy Crisis Committee involving the Departments of Energy, Public Enterprises, Environment, Treasury and Police to deal with the energy problems the country has experienced.
Red Tape
President Ramaphosa adds that government will cut red tape that has made it difficult for Eskom to buy maintenance spares and equipment within the required period to effect repair for power stations.
President Ramaphosa says action they have taken and continue to take as government to increase energy security and end blackouts is not enough. Over the next twelve months Eskom will increase its budget allocation for critical maintenance to increase the reliability of generation capacity.
“This point was raised with me by the power station managers as they detailed to me how difficult is has been for them to repair the units that break from time to time because of the red tape and the delays,” says the President.
