Cape Town – Eskom Group Chief Executive Officer, Dan Marokane, has announced that South Africa could have a “load shedding free summer” if unplanned losses at power stations are kept below 13,000MW.
Over the past four months, unplanned losses have averaged around 12,000MW, and if this trend continues, summer should be stable, he said during a media briefing on the state of Eskom and Summer Plan on Monday.
“Our view is that if we keep the unplanned losses below 13 000MW, we should have a load shedding free summer. At worst, we anticipate that in the event that unplanned losses reaches up to 15 500MW, we will at most experience Stage 2 [load shedding].
[WATCH]” If in an unlikely situation we get to 15 000 MW of unplanned losses, we will experience at most Stage 2 [#loadshedding]” – Eskom CEO Dan Marokane briefing the media on the power utility’s summer plan. #Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/AddX2sn78l
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) August 26, 2024
“The performance over the last four months has consistently hovered around unplanned losses of 12 000MW. Our power station managers and our teams are very alive to that, their focus is on controlling unplanned losses and should we stay below 13 000MW, we should have a comfortable summer,” Marokane said.
Marokane said that 2,500MW of additional generation capacity is expected to come online, further improving the situation.
He noted a significant improvement in Eskom’s coal fleet performance and emphasised the need to sustain these gains through the company’s generation recovery plan.
#Eskom Group Chief Executive Dan Marokane says Load shedding remains suspended, with Eskom providing uninterrupted power supply for 152 consecutive days including in winter #SABCNews pic.twitter.com/vZrRSVhSyg
— Katlego Legodi (@KatlegoLegodi_) August 26, 2024
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
