Cape Town – Fixing issues at Eskom has led to over 50 days without load shedding, but has created a new problem of generating excess electricity, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has reportedly said.
The minister spoke at a business breakfast in Durban, hosted by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development on Friday.
After repairing six problematic power stations responsible for 70% of losses, three have become top performers, leading to overproduction, Ramokgopa said, according to IOL.
This excess generation risks grid collapse, requiring Eskom to put machines on cold reserve.
“Three of them have graduated from being problem power stations. Kusile, Majuba have graduated and are some of the best power stations. As a result of that, we have a new problem, which is that we are generating more electricity than we need. As I speak to you we are putting the machines on cold reserve,” Ramokgopa said.
“We simply say please stop generating, we are generating a lot. That is a new problem that we have. It is adding new engineering problems by the way because if we generate more than we consume it may result in a grid collapse.
“I am making that point just to say to you we are not burning diesel. We get to be accused – of course, it is cynicism – people accuse us of burning diesel,” the report quoted Ramokgopa as saying.
Meanwhile, the minister recently denied allegations linking the absence of load shedding to the upcoming national and provincial elections.
“We are in the silly season. There’s going to be a number of interpretations of what is before us, whether there is a correlation of this improvement to the elections,” he said.
[WATCH] Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa denies claims of political pressure on Eskom to keep the lights on ahead of the elections. He attributes the stability of the national grid to the power utility’s efforts.#Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/1zJLsKdv8i
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) May 6, 2024
He continued: “There is no correlation between this performance and the date of the 29th of May. When the team was making these efforts, when we ramped up planned maintenance in December and January, little did we know that there would be a big date with ballots.”
He assured that the halt in load shedding was not orchestrated but a result of strategic engineering efforts.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
