We’re doing something about load shedding, I promise: Ramaphosa
Presidential Spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says president Cyril Ramaphosa deeply regrets the current energy situation, which has plunged the country into stage 6 load shedding.
Magwenya was updating the public on the president’s public programme and topical issues of public and media interest.
“The president acknowledges the frustration of households, parents and learners who have commenced the school calendar year facing power shortages. The devastation to small businesses and the adverse impact to the economy remains severe for South Africa’s recovering economy,” Magwenya said during a hybrid media briefing on Thursday.
Giving an update on the National Energy Plan, Magwenya said that president Ramaphosa convened a National Energy Crisis Committee comprising of Ministers and various technical work stream leaders on 15 December.
Whilst the president acknowledged some of the progress made in the executing elements of the National Energy Plan, he further demanded more urgency and speed in the implementation of all priority areas and actions laid out in the plan.
“To date, president Ramaphosa remains seized with finding a sustainable solution to the current energy crisis. The president has been regularly briefed on the situation at Eskom and on the rollout of the National Energy Plan.
“More engagements are scheduled for today and tomorrow for a review of the situation and direction on urgent measures that must be undertaken in order to mitigate against the impact of load shedding,” said the presidential Spokesperson.
Despite the current gloomy state of load shedding, the National Energy Crisis Committee work streams continue to make progress on several areas aimed at ensuring the stability of the grid and finding additional megawatts.
According to the presidency, the following programmes have either underway or in the pipeline to address the load shedding crisis:
- The government removed the licensing threshold through an amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulatory Act. This was gazetted on 15th December 2022.
- A dedicated team in the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) has been established to work closely with Eskom Transmission to expedite expropriation and servitudes. The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure has, in the last two months, signed notices of intent to expropriate for 27 parcels of private land. 46 servitudes on DPWI land are being processed, of which 22 will be finalized in January 2023.
- Eskom has identified up to 1,000 MW of additional power to be imported from Mozambique and other countries in the SADC region, pending negotiations and regulatory approvals. This is in addition to the 300 MW already secured through the Southern African Power Pool.
- Significant potential capacity has already been identified for the standard offer and emergency generation programme (potential of 1,600 MW) developed by Eskom – this will be implemented as a matter of urgency by the utility as no NERSA concurrence is required.
- A net billing framework, and later a feed-in tariff, is being developed to credit customers for any surplus energy they are able to feed into the grid, this is targeting residential as well as commercial and industrial installations. Further consultations are planned for the current month of January to finalise arrangements with a broad range of stakeholders.
- Independent team has been assembled to diagnose challenges at power station level (including former Power Station Managers), starting with Duvha, Kusile, Kriel, Tutuka, Hendrina and Matla. This team is working with the management and board of Eskom.
- The process to improve the availability of spare parts & expertise from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) through more agile procurement is underway to source services from OEMs at Tutuka, Majuba, Kendal and Kusile.
- The process of excluding transmission infrastructure from the requirement to obtain environmental authorisation country wide in areas of low & medium environmental sensitivity has been completed.
- NATJOINTS is coordinating the work of multiple agencies to address sabotage, theft and fraud at Eskom. Some arrests have been made, with progress driven by increased deployment of private security by Eskom.
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