- South Africa’s state owned energy utility, Eskom, confirms that loadshedding remains suspended, supported by a stable power system and adequate emergency reserves.
A total of 3 410MW will be returned to service before the evening peak on Monday, 24 February 2025, to further stabilise the grid.
Key Performance Highlights:
- Over the past week (14 February to 20 February 2025), average unplanned outages increased to 12 976MW. However, this is an improvement of 1 114MW compared to the same period last year. Year-to-date, the average is 12 127MW, which is 873MW below the summer base case of 13 000MW.
- The Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor (UCLF) is at 25.35% for the financial year-to-date (1 April 2024 to 20 February 2025), improving from 32.50% in the corresponding period last year. This marks an improvement of ~7.2%.
- The weekly EAF slightly increased from 57.0% at the beginning of the financial year to 57.54% from 17 to 20 February 2025, while the year-to-date EAF is at 61.44%, a significant improvement of ~6.8% compared to the same period last year (54.64%).
- The ongoing planned maintenance at 7 479MW aligns with our summer maintenance strategy, which aims to further improve reliability in preparation for winter 2025 and beyond.
- As of today, unplanned outages are at 13 275MW, while available generation capacity is 26 640MW. Tonight’s forecasted peak demand is 25 161MW.
- Strategic use of peaking stations remains key to managing electricity demand during peak times, particularly during evening peaks (17:00 to 22:00).
- Between 1 April 2024 and 20 February 2025, approximately R12.02 billion was spent on fuel for the Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGT) fleet, which is below budget. This expenditure generated 1 978.87 GWh, significantly lower than the 4 621.43 GWh generated during the same period last year.
- The OCGT load factor for 1 April 2024 to 20 February 2025 stabilised at 7.41%, compared to last year’s figure of 17.30%.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
