Kgosiensho Ramokgopa, Minister of Electricity;
EPower Minister Kgosiensho Ramogopa says SKOMs are working hard to implement the Energy Action Plan and reiterated that the long stretches without load shedding are a ploy to support the ruling ANC in next week's general elections. I denied it.
Speaking at his weekly media briefing on the country's energy performance on Monday, Prime Minister Ramokopa noted that the country had gone 54 days without a power outage, adding: . This country understands to some extent where we are coming from – three or four months ago I explained why we are in burden reduction stage 6. ”
“We can dispel the myth that Eskom is doing everything in its power to save May 29.” [elections]. We are seeing huge improvements in the Energy Action Plan. ”
He reiterated that the status quo was a “long-term gain” from “short-term pain” due to maintenance work carried out at Eskom's power stations late last year.
“We have reached the culmination of planned maintenance…from December 2023 to January 2024, we shut down approximately 18% of our generation capacity (nearly 9,000 MW), which is coming back and , it is becoming more healthy,” Ramokgopa said.
From April 1, the start of Eskom's year to date, energy utilization has improved by nine percentage points to 60.5%, compared to 51.7% in the same period last year, he said, adding: Ta. That's quite an improvement. ”
He said the unplanned capacity loss factor (unplanned energy loss due to generators not working well or at all) was 28.2% compared to 35.6% last year.
“The May 2023 baseline was about 15,000 MW, and now we are at 11,110 MW, which is a significant improvement over the same period last year…We have regained about five levels of shedding. This is important. It was a performance and it was not instantaneous or sudden as many would like to believe,” Ramokgopa said.
He added that it is clear that utilities are in a better position than at the same time in the past two years, and the trend line is rising. He said there were points where weekly performance reached 70% energy availability.
Mr Ramokgopa said he wanted to dispel two “myths”, the first being that Eskom was being saved by solar energy, but that solar power was a key part of the plan, which is why the Treasury said the plan He admitted that this was the reason for introducing incentives for households and businesses. area.
The minister said he hoped to add 6,000MW to the grid from solar power by the end of the year. He said renewable energy, used in conjunction with coal, was contributing to solving the load-shedding problem, adding: “We need to celebrate the contribution that solar PV (solar power) is making.”
He said the second myth is that Eskom uses a lot of diesel to keep the lights on, and that liquid-fueled open-cycle gas turbines are the mainstay of Eskom's fleet. He reiterated that this is an important part.
Eskom has spent R1.24 billion on diesel so far this year, compared to R5.2 billion in the same period last year.
Eskom had suspended load shedding last week after some units failed due to the use of open-cycle gas turbines and “due to the health of other units”.
“When the units come back, we can use less diesel,” he said.
Ramokgopa said fewer generators are expected to be shut down this winter compared to last year, meaning load shedding will not reach higher stages during peak periods when more power is used. He said that means there is enough power to guarantee.
“We are scaling back maintenance in preparation for the winter. We have a winter peak, but we don't do maintenance so the units can come online. When the peak is lower, we do maintenance,” he said.