Optimistic: Energy minister Ramokgopa. Picture: Henk Kruger / Independent Newspapers
Despite 131 days without load shedding Minister of Energy and Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa warned South Africans that the country is “not out of the woods yet” when it comes to the energy crisis.
His comments come amid optimism in the energy sector with experts predicting that given Eskom’s recent performance, South Africans can kiss load shedding goodbye by the end of October.
Ramokgopa said that over the past week, Eskom obtained an average Energy Availability Factor (EAF) of 70%.
“When I say EAF, I’m talking about the rate at which these units are failing and also the degree to which they approximate their design capacity,” he explained.
“The same period last year, we were going through a period of load shedding and I had said to the country ‘short-term pain for long-term gain’. In the same period last year, we were sitting at about 55% EAF. This is phenomenal. I want to emphasise, we are not out of the woods yet but the team is doing exceptionally well,” Ramokgopa noted.
The minister also said that another milestone has been reached by Eskom as the utility has 35,000MW available.
The last time this surplus was available was in 2018.
He said this was confirmation that the strategy adopted by Eskom’s board is working.
Last week, Professor Sampson Mamphweli of the South African National Energy Development Institute said that government will be declaring the end of load shedding by the end of 2024.
Mamphweli made these comments to Newzroom Afrika and said that there are a number of factors that illustrate that Eskom is improving.
He noted that the utility’s EAF has gone up, the fact that Eskom’s power stations have had fewer breakdowns and that the company’s generation system is performing well.
vernon.pillay@iol.co.za
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