The Electricity Minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says the suspension of load shedding is because of reduced demand and unplanned capacity loss which allowed for increased planned maintenance.
Ramokgopa says Eskom is taking advantage of reduced demand by energy-intensive users during the December period to ramp up planned maintenance.
He reports a decrease in the system failure rate to 12 000 megawatts, indicating an improvement of 3 000 megawatts in system health. Despite this enhancement, he notes that the electricity system still faces reliability challenges.
Ramokgopa was briefing the media on the energy action plan in Pretoria:
Ramokgopa says planned maintenance is currently averaging 8 000 megawatts and will be key in ensuring a positive performance of the electricity system going forward.
“The demand is averaging about 24 695MW and that’s why you’re not seeing load shedding. We’re working behind the scenes, we are aggressive on the maintenance, and the system is performing. But the point I want to make is consistency because time and time again I come before the nation and I say there’s been a cluster of units that have failed, that’s something that we want to avert. I can’t guarantee that that won’t happen. I think it’s important that I make that statement.”
Diesel
Ramokgopa has emphasised Eskom’s reduced use of diesel, which he says is expensive and unsustainable for the country. He says the Kusile Power Station has been a star performer with the return of three units. He says the energy availability factor has now reached 55%, however, Eskom aims to push it up to 60% in the first quarter of next year.
“When you have seen the lights have been on, very little diesel has been burned, it has been the machines sustaining themselves. The highlights have been the return of these three Kusile units. And then don’t underestimate the fact that we delayed the decommissioning and part of the reason why we have not burned diesel even at higher levels of intensity, part of the reason why the lights are on and will remain on going into the near future is because of these units that were meant to be taken out, these units continue to perform, Kamden, Hedrina.”
Ramokgopa says the government remains committed to adding more capacity to the grid, hence the recent launch of Bid Window 7, which aims to add 5 000 megawatts of renewable energy to the grid by 2027.
He says work to establish the National Transmission Company is also on track.
