- South Africa’s state owned and state run energy utility, Eskom, reports that with the current intensified maintenance aimed at improving the fleet performance, they had a setback of three generating units (2 148MW) not coming back online as anticipated.
- This coupled with a loss of six generating units (3 113MW), and projected increase in electricity demand requires, Stage 2 loadshedding to be implemented from 05:00 on Tuesday until 16:00, followed by Stage 3 loadshedding until 05:00 on Wednesday.
- This pattern of Stage 2 loadshedding in the morning and Stage 3 loadshedding in the evening will be repeated daily until further notice.
Unplanned outages are currently at 16231MW of generating capacity, while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 8451MW. Eskom’s coal powered generation fleet produces just over 38000MW in total.
Eskom teams are working tirelessly to ensure that 4921MW of generating capacity is returned to service before the end of the week.
Yesterday, Eskom proudly announced Unit 5 of the Kusile Power Station Project was synchronised to the national grid for the first time on 31 December and they expect the unit to be fully commissioned in six months. “There is enormous effort made to continue the remarkable progress on the new build programme and the Generation Recovery Plan,” said Calib Cassim, Eskom’s Acting Group Chief Executive. Read more
In reality, the outlook indicates that Eskom is likely to implement loadshedding on a daily basis throughout 2024.
Eskom System Operator outlook for loadshedding in South Africa for the next year. Image credit: Eskom
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
