By Thabiso Nkuna
The South African Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has achieved a 100-day milestone of no load shedding in the country. This achievement is a reflection on the hard work that has gone into addressing the problem. The government and Eskom have worked together to tackle load shedding since it reached crisis levels in July 2022. The government’s Energy Action Plan, announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July 2022, has helped Eskom address the issue.
Ramokgopa explained that Eskom has managed to reduce unplanned outages at power stations’ generating units significantly compared to the same period last year, helping to keep the lights on. As of June last year, Eskom had lost 17,000MW of the megawatts due to unreliability of these units. Today, the unplanned capacity loss factor is at 12,000MW, recouping 5000MW. However, the planned capacity loss factor, the number of units taken out to fix them, is still about 1000MW greater than before, recouping about 6000MW.
Ramokgopa refuted suggestions that Eskom’s performance is boosted by the burning of diesel at Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs). He stated that Eskom has considerably reduced its use of diesel guzzling turbines and saved R6.2 billion from the same period last year. From April 2024 to June 2024, Eskom has burnt R6 billion less of diesel, indicating that the performance is not anchored by diesel. The performance of coal-fired power stations and the team’s efforts to address this situation are key factors in the country’s progress.
