Minister Ramokgopa dismisses notion of recent ‘high frequency of load shedding’

Minister Ramokgopa dismisses notion of recent ‘high frequency of load shedding’

Minister of of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has dismissed a suggestion that there has been a recent “frequency of load shedding”.

Ramokgopa said the comparison of load shedding during the period between December 2022 to February 2023 and December 2023 to February 16, 2024, showed that there were 600 fewer load-shedding hours.

“It is incorrect to suggest there has been a recent ‘high frequency of load shedding’. It is important to note that Stage 6, which occurred from February 9, 2024, midnight until February 11, 2024, midday was an outlier due to the multiple generation units being taken off-line,” he said.

Ramokgopa was responding in writing to parliamentary questions from EFF MP Mzwanele Manyi, who asked for details of the causes of the recent “high frequency” of load shedding.

Manyi also wanted the minister to explain the persistent challenges facing Eskom in maintaining stable electricity supply in the wake of his visits to Eskom plants and initiatives to address load shedding. The country has experienced suspension of load shedding for almost two weeks.

Ramokgopa said the gradual improvement brought about by the Generation Operational Recovery Plan had started to be visible as far as the frequency and intensity of load shedding in the past five-and-half months.

“A comparison of load shedding between December 2022 and February 2023 (from 1 December 2022 to 16 February 2023) and in the same period (1 December 2023 to 16 February 2024) indicates that load shedding hours were reduced from 1 801.25 to 1 217.98, which is about 600 hours less.”

He said renewable energy does not and will not address baseload requirements due to its intermittent nature, which depends on sunshine and wind.

“While we continue to ensure ease of path for the development of our renewable basket, including battery storage capacity, we are fast-tracking efforts to ensure, in the short to medium term, work is initiated to convert the current (diesel) peaking plants to gas-to-energy facilities capable of operating as baseload stations.”

Ramokgopa also said the improvement of the energy availability factor (EAF) and unplanned outages resulted from the concerted efforts focusing on priority power stations such as Kusile, Kendal, Majuba, Matla, Tutuka and Duvha, where each power station has a detailed recovery plan.

“A total of 3 510MW was recovered by January 2024 through these interventions.”

He said the highest level of planned maintenance was performed between December 2023 and January this year, reaching an average of 18% of the generation capacity.

Ramokgopa said although heightened maintenance negatively impacted the energy availability factor, it remained a necessary trade-off as the deliberate spike in planned maintenance was intended to improve the generation fleet’s reliability to deliver long-term benefits and ensure the security of energy supply was restored.

“Not only has the plan started to yield desirable results as far as energy availability factor is concerned, but the Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor (unplanned outages) has also taken a positive turn from 34% of the generation capacity in January 2023 to 30% in January 2024,” he added.

Ramokgopa said had maintenance been reduced by 25-50% from September last year to February this year, load shedding could have been averted for this period. “However, this would have left the system vulnerable …”

Cape Times