Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has emphasised that although Eskom’s recent performance is commendable, more work needs to be done to ensure that this continues consistently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was speaking during a media briefing updating the nation on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan (EAP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The country has not been experiencing any load shedding for about a week due to consistent improvement in the available generating capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuring this period, we have seen an exceptionally good performance by the units. Outside the issues of reduced demand, we have seen that the unplanned capacity loss factor \u2013 a combination of the units being unreliable and the units not performing at the right levels \u2013 the system has been healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe problem that we have is that the system is healthy in periods. What we want to achieve is to ensure that we maintain that consistently, that the system remains healthy. We have prioritised these power stations, and we are seeing the results, and I\u2019m confident that this festive (period) we will have the lights on,\u201d Ramokgopa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minister said that over the next two weeks, Eskom remains optimistic that the good performance of units will be sustained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, he warned that \u201cthe true test\u201d for the performance of the system is yet to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou are not seeing load shedding [because] we are working behind the scenes. We are aggressive on maintenance, and the system is performing. The outlook, in the short term\u2026 looks upbeat, and we want to ensure that the lights remain on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut the true test comes on the other side of the break when big industries come back. It\u2019s about sustaining the South African economy. So we can\u2019t celebrate the fact that we don\u2019t have load shedding when the South African economy has gone on a temporary break. You want to have a situation of no load shedding at the height of the performance of the South African economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramokgopa revealed that during this period, the power utility will be undergoing \u201caggressive maintenance\u201d of power stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe use this opportunity to do the actual work of ensuring that we are very aggressive in our maintenance programme so that we are able to take full advantage of the fact that demand has slowed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are going to benefit exceptionally when, as a country, we continue on this path of planned maintenance. But planned maintenance has got its own downsides. When we do planned maintenance, it simply means that I\u2019m removing the units off the grid, so I\u2019m lessening my ability to generate the megawatts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we have used a combination of low demand and the healthy performance of units during this period to do not only planned maintenance but opportunity maintenance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addressing generating units<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking to the Energy Action Plan\u2019s first key intervention to fix Eskom and improve the availability of existing supply, Ramokgopa said achieving this rests on two variables: addressing the rate of failure of generating units and ensuring that the efficiency of the units is improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The EAP was introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July 2022 to address load shedding and achieve energy security for the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOn the unplanned capacity loss factor\u2026 the intention is to bring this down\u2026[and] bolster the performance of these units and therefore get more megawatts on the grid to service the demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOver the past 14 days\u2026 the average is about 12,245MW. So it means that over that period, there is 12,245MW of units that have either failed or they are not giving us the amount of megawatts that we want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut it\u2019s important that we juxtapose this with what has been the trend. When you look at our winter outlook when we did the projections\u2026the worst-case scenario was that if it hits 18,000MW, we are going to hit levels of load shedding that we have not seen before going beyond Stage 6. The system is better off, it\u2019s healthier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Minister highlighted that on Monday, capacity losses stood at under 11,000MW but warned that this needs to be sustained over a longer period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a psychological barrier. We have gone below 11,000MW so we are confident about our ability to get to that level. The point is to ensure that we are able to sustain. The message I\u2019m conveying to the country is that the system is healthier if you use the measure of the rate of failure and the partial load losses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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