- Minister of Energy and Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has warned that although Eskom has delivered exceptional performance to keep load shedding at bay, the country is “not out of the woods yet”.
The country has not experienced load shedding for at least 130 days – a feat last achieved some four years ago.
The EAF has surpassed 70% on numerous occasions in the last two weeks. This equating to a ~ 33 180MW available generation capacity which is a substantial improvement from April 2023 when the average daily available generation capacity was at ~23 7000MW.
The Generation Recovery Plan continues to deliver efficiencies for Eskom, with an approximate R9.37 billion reduction in Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs) diesel expenditure from 1 April 2024 to 25 July 2024, compared to the same period last year.
Six power stations—Kusile, Lethabo, Majuba, Tutuka, Matla, and Medupi—recorded an EAF greater than 70%. Additionally, three more power stations achieved an EAF above 60%. Notably, five of these stations were part of the priority list in the recovery plan.
Eskom’s operational efficiency continues to surpass our winter assumptions, with current unplanned outages averaging between 9 800MW and 12 400MW since 1 April 2024 – the start of Eskom’s Financial Year (FY) 2025. Today’s figure has reduced to 9 866MW and is significantly lower than the winter 2024 forecast.
“Eskom CEO Dan Marokane and the Eskom team have done exceptionally well. So over the past week.Eskom has averaged 70% of EAF [Energy Availability Factor]. 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. 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’. 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,” said Ramokgopa at a recent media briefing
He highlighted another milestone reached by the power utility in July.
“The 23rd of July was a day to celebrate because for the first time since 2018, we had availability of 35 000MW plus. The last time we had seen this was the 16th of July 2018. This is phenomenal, it is a confirmation that the strategy adopted by the board is working and we are going to stay at it and ensure that we are able to deliver the kind of performance that is required,” he said.
The Minister singled out improved performance at some six power stations, which he said, had reached at least 70% EAF.
“Kusile and Medupi [power stations]are expected to be in that category because they are some of our newest power stations. But I think what is encouraging us is that, consistently, Matla and Matimba [power stations]are there in that category. There’s an intra-station competition which is very healthy for the purposes of driving this EAF,” he said.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
