Eskom to ease load-shedding in the next few days, buying power from Zambia
As the power cuts continue to hit many economic sectors in South Africa, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says they are working hard to ease the load shedding. Eskom’s de Ruyter says they have already started buying power from neighbouring Zambia and they are talking to Mozambican authorities. Speaking to Radio Sonder Grense, the Eskom
Eskom to ease load-shedding in the next few days, buying power from Zambia
As the power cuts continue to hit many economic sectors in South Africa, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says they are working hard to ease the load shedding.
Eskom’s de Ruyter says they have already started buying power from neighbouring Zambia and they are talking to Mozambican authorities.
Speaking to Radio Sonder Grense, the Eskom boss de Ruyter says power cuts should start easing within the next 10 days when big generation units are expected to come back online.
The state utility, Eskom, ramped up load-shedding to 4,000MW at 6pm on Tuesday until further notice due to generation trips at its Kendal and Lethabo plants and has imposed a record 120 days of blackouts so far in 2022.
“We are doing everything possible to add megawatts to the grid,” De Ruyter told Radio Sonder Grense.
“We have started buying power from Zambia, and we are looking at Mozambique and the private sector to add megawatts.”
Media reports suggest that the private sector has a total of 6,000MW of new renewable projects in the pipeline, he announced.
Furthermore, those projects were targeted after President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed in July that companies would be allowed to build power plants of any size without a licence to meet their own needs and to sell them to the grid.
As per the radio interview, de Ruyter said it would probably take another 18-24 months for that capacity to come onto the network.
Newly elected chairman Mpho Makwana said the company’s newly appointed board will retain the power utility’s management for the time being, as the South African company conducts an assessment of its power plants.
Makwana, who was appointed together with most of the new board last week, said the plant’s performance will be reviewed over the next 30 to 60 days to ascertain how to make them operational at an average of 75% of the time — a target set by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Their so-called electricity availability factor, a measure of when they can produce electricity, is currently less than 60%.
Main Image: Eskom Power Station/BusinessLIVE
