Dr. Kgoshyensho Ramakgopa, Minister of Electricity and Energy
Eskom spent R8.51 billion on electricity generation between April 1 and December 19 this year, compared with R24.32 billion in the same period last year, according to Kgosiensho Ramokgopa, Minister of Power and Energy. R60 million, or 67.7% less.
Outlining the utility's performance this year, Mr Ramokgopa said at a media briefing on Monday that South Africa had recorded 272 consecutive days of uninterrupted power supply, the longest period of uninterrupted electricity supply in the past five years. However, he warned that the country does not yet have uninterrupted supply. Permanently cancel rolling blackouts.
“We are within reach of load-shedding solutions, but we are not necessarily out of the woods,” he said.
“Even though you're seeing incredible performance like we're seeing, it's important to keep your eyes on the bouncing ball, and that bouncing ball is going to make sure that offloading ends and This is to ensure that we then come back.''In the long term, this is to ensure that we provide sufficient headroom for the growth of the South African economy. ”
“We want to make it an unusual conversation to even discuss 272 days of no-load shedding…This is a conversation that in a highly industrialized economy like ours, there should be no load shedding. I look forward to it.”
He noted that 80% of South Africa's power generation capacity still comes from fossil fuels, and said the country would deploy different types of technologies “to ensure we achieve our decarbonization ambitions”.
“We have a responsibility to be able to address air quality issues that have a significant impact on the health of people who live in the immediate vicinity of these power plants,” he said.
“As part of the global challenge to address the scourge of climate change, we also have a responsibility to ensure we reduce our CO₂ emissions.”
Ramokgopa said another important milestone for Eskom was that the utility was able to reduce its unplanned capacity loss factor (UCLF), or the extent to which equipment fails in isolation and is unable to function efficiently. I did.
“The intention is to reduce that number. Lowering the UCLF number means more megawatts on the grid…This time last year UCLF was about 33.1%, now it's 24.9 UCLF. What it means is that we have generation capacity on the grid, and that's the result of the great work that the team was able to accomplish.”
He said that from April 1 to December 19, the efficiency of Energy Availability Factor (EAF), or the overall performance of the power grid, averaged 62.55%, an improvement from about 55.24% last year.
“As a result of this performance, we were able to save approximately R16.06 billion just by stopping diesel combustion,” Ramokgopa said.
“This is important because if we can reduce the costs associated with diesel, it means that Eskom becomes a more efficient generator… If we can maintain this over a period of time… we can pass. All of this benefits the end consumer. ”
“Our target for electric arc furnaces in the 2025 financial year is that we want to achieve 70%,” he said, which will be achieved through new generation capacity and the withdrawal of some units from Eskom's power plants that are out of commission. He said it would be achieved. .
“70% EAF is not an arbitrary number. It’s a number derived from…engineering science…we know we have the skills to get to that level, and that’s the confidence we have. This is the level of
Mr Ramogopa said one of the goals for next year was to revise the strategy to ensure South Africa achieved its goal of providing universal access to electricity by 2030, adding: It is unacceptable that after so many years we have not achieved what we have achieved.” universal access.”
