For two weeks now, South Africa has experienced uninterrupted power supply and Eskom said this was due to consistent improvement in available generation capacity and the lower demand as well as sufficient emergency reserves. But the fact remains, load shedding is going nowhere. Last week, the power utility said load shedding will remain suspended until tomorrow, keeping lights on for Christmas. This means, as usual, the country will be plunged into darkness come the New Year. The crisis that has been going on for over a decade has been blamed on the aging infrastructure at Eskom's coal power plants, different seasons and recently on air conditioners.
NOT GOING ANYWHERE
Eskom has said the solution requires the construction of additional power stations and generators. According to Outlier, a statistic group that collects data on load shedding, the power cuts have been implemented on a near-permanent basis since September 2022. Last year alone, the country experienced blackouts for 205 days. This year alone, the country was plunged into darkness for a record-breaking 332 days. Tuesday, 6 September 2022, was the start of what would eventually become a record string of daily blackouts.
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said that there is an improvement in load shedding. He said this is due to an increase in planned maintenance, ensuring that unplanned outages are kept at lower levels. "There's a correlation between planned maintenance and the rate of failures of the units. The team is seeing when they return the units; these units remain on load for longer periods their efficiency and reliability are improving," he said. He said It's important that they maintain the reliability of these units so they can restore and maintain the credibility of their efforts and the ability of Eskom to resolve this challenge.
ESKOM CAN'T DO IT ALONE
Ramokgopa said between November and December, more generating units are expected to return to service further boosting generation capacity for the grid. "We are expecting Kusile [Power Station] Unit 2 to come on stream by the third week of November, and Unit 5 by the third week of December. "But that's not sufficient. We need additional generation capacity, especially renewable energy sources because the Eskom fleet alone won't resolve load shedding and secure energy security. That's why we are investing a lot of effort and resources to ensure that we find a solution for the financing and rollout of transmission which will cost upward of R390 billion," he said. He said additional generation sources are needed and they principally have to be renewables. "But renewables need transmission capacity, they also thrive on the existence of baseloads like coal, nuclear and hydro, which are some of those that are important to the resolution of this problem," Ramokgopa said. He said however, frequent unplanned breakdowns at the older power stations remain a concern, suggesting that the economy will still be subjected to some degree of load shedding, probably for the next three years.
