Eskom setback with load-shedding concerns

Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has warned that Eskom has experienced setbacks, and the power utility would not rule out load-shedding.

On Friday, Eskom announced that its Generation Operational Recovery Plan continues to deliver structural improvements and efficiencies to its coal fleet.

These improvements helped to keep load-shedding suspended for 200 days. Eskom has provided an uninterrupted power supply since 26 March 2024.

This is the first time in years that Eskom has not implemented load-shedding during the winter period.

Extensive maintenance has helped to decrease unplanned outages. These outages averaged 12,087MW during the past seven days, compared to 15,065MW last year.

Eskom’s Energy Availability Factor (EAF) averaged 61% over the past week and 63.1% year-to-date.

The financial year-to-date – from 1 April 2024 to 10 October 2024 – EAF is at 63.1%, a significant improvement of 7.7% compared to the same period last year.

Ramokgopa said he was confident that Eskom would hit its 70% EAF target next year, a benchmark to kiss load-shedding goodbye.

Eskom achieved 200 days without load-shedding without having to burn more diesel. It significantly reduced its Open-Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) expenditure this year.

It spent R6.00 billion to run OCGTs between 1 April and 10 October 2024, down from R18.03 billion spent last year over the same period.

These statistics are encouraging, and most experts agree that Eskom should be commended for its rapid turnaround.

However, Ramokgopa has warned that Eskom experienced setbacks at two of its major power stations – Medupi and Koeberg.

Energy expert Chris Yelland said Eskom had confirmed the setbacks. These include:

• The return to service of 950 MW Koeberg Unit 2 was delayed from June 2024 to December 2024.

• The 950 MW Koeberg Unit 1 will go offline in January 2025 for an unstated period for containment building overpressure and leakage testing.

• Medupi Unit 4’s return to service was delayed from August 2024 to March 2025, following a hydrogen explosion in August 2021.

• Kusile Units 1, 2, and 3 will go offline in sequence starting November 2024 to reinstate the flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) plant. This should be done by March 2025.

Eskom stated that it is unlikely to implement load-shedding during summer, from 1 September 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Although this remains in force, the power utility would not say that load-shedding was finally over in South Africa.

Yelland highlighted that the issues at Medupi, Kusile, and Koeberg prevent Eskom from calling an end to rolling power cuts.

However, Yelland told Newzroom Africa in an interview that the country should never experience load-shedding again.

He said a stable electricity supply is the norm. “Countries around the world have solved these problems. There is no reason South Africa should be in this position,” he said.

Yelland added that there is growing confidence that South Africa’s electricity problems are behind us. This is seen in the end of emergency energy procurements.

“Putting an end to the long-term emergency procurements is a sign that we can and will resolve these problems,” he said.