Eskom is working hard to improve its generation system, but load shedding will remain a reality for businesses and households, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa warned on Tuesday.
Ramokgopa explained during a media briefing that most of Eskom’s generation units remain unreliable, and this is being addressed through the power utility’s planned maintenance routine.
“We will have periods of days of no load shedding and days of load shedding. Eskom has announced its summer outlook and it makes the point that we should not be at more than Stage 4 level of load shedding,” Ramokgopa said.
“While demand was low during the week December 22-29, Eskom was working to address issues of its fleet and used the opportunity to carry out planned maintenance.”
He said Eskom is beginning to decrease its planned maintenance, as it expects demand will increase.
Three Eskom units came back online at Kusile in December, which ensured that there were periods of no load shedding.
“If you had to look at the work done at Eskom, they have reduced repeat failures. We have an additional buffer for instances of a cluster of units failing where you do not have to initiate load shedding, or if you do, it is not at intense levels.”
Ramokgopa said the licences for Koeberg unit 1 and 2 also had to be extended.
“We had to do a significant amount of work to meet the regulatory requirements and compliance so we can get the license extensions … so these units were out. As part of this robust exercise, unit 1 in Koeberg is now on full load.”
He said the unit had passed a plethora of tests on December 30.
“Now unit 1 in Koeberg is unleashing the megawatts that are required and we hope it will continue to do that for the next 20 years.”
He said Kusile Power Station’s unit 5 was providing intermittent power as it was undergoing tests.
Ramokgopa urged the public to make submissions on the draft Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2023 issued for public comment by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, in Government Gazette no 49974 on 04 January 2024.
“As it stands, the IRP represents the views of Cabinet and we want to know what the public thinks,” Ramokgopa said.
The IRP is an electricity generation plan that seeks to ensure security of electricity supply by balancing supply with demand, while taking into account the environment and total cost of supply. – SAnews.gov.za
