Cape Town – Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says interventions at Eskom power stations led to a reduction of approximately 600 hours of load shedding during the December and January period of 2023/24 compared to the previous year.
Additionally, he said that 3510MW of capacity has been restored to the system over the past year due to interventions at power stations.
The minister said this on Monday while updating the nation on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan.
“Over the period…of January 2023 to January 2024, we have been able to get back 3510MW as a result of interventions. These interventions are not complete. There’s still additional work that we must do at Tutuka [Power Station]. There’s additional work that continues to be done at Kendal, Matla and the other power stations.
[WATCH] Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa: “We have managed to reduce #loadshedding by 600 hours. This is an achievement for us because it means we are heading in the right direction.” #Newzroom405 #eskom pic.twitter.com/clVyresDzN
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) February 26, 2024
“If you were to take December of 2022 to February of 2023 and then you take the period of December 2023 to February 2024…the period of the year that was, we have experienced load shedding of about 1800 hours.
“When you see the period a year later…we have had about 1200 hours of load shedding. Essentially, we have been able to reduce the hours of load shedding by about 600 hours. We are going in the right direction,” Ramokgopa said.
The minister acknowledged that while progress has been made, any form of load shedding remains unacceptable.
“We are going in the right direction. Ultimately, we want to go into a situation where I’m able to stand before the public and say we have not experienced any hours of load shedding. Load shedding in its totality is unacceptable.
“But we have come to a situation where it has become a daily occurrence so gradually, we want to reduce that intensity of load shedding,” the minister said.
[WATCH] “We need to roll out about 14 000km of new lines so that we can aggressively accommodate new generation capacity in the Cape provinces. That investment will require R400 billion.” – Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. #Newzroom405 #Loadshedding #eskom pic.twitter.com/so6Gxh9yQO
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) February 26, 2024
He emphasised the need to continue efforts to reduce the intensity of load shedding and highlighted ongoing maintenance work at power stations.
“We are going to have temporary setbacks; this was a setback. The team identified what was the root cause. These lessons will then be exported to other power stations so that we don’t suffer similar fates.
“We remain on the right course. The trend line remains positive. We are confident about our ability [and] the intervention on Eskom.
“If you were to add the new generation capacity which is now throttled by the fact that we’ve got challenges on the transmission side, once we resolve those issues, we are on the right course…to deliver on the Energy Action Plan,” he said.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
