‘Government working to shield hospitals from load shedding’ – Ramokgopa

Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has stressed that government’s work to shield health facilities from load shedding is continuing.

Ramokgopa was delivering his maiden speech during the budget vote of the Presidency in Parliament on Wednesday.

Hospital exclusions

The electricity minister said government has already identified some 213 hospitals that can be excluded from load shedding, with 76 already not experiencing power cuts and work on a further 46 underway.

“The remaining hospitals have sufficient backup power supply from diesel generators. Nevertheless, diesel costs remain a major expenditure driver, especially during higher load shedding stages.”

“Apart from the diesel costs, the electricity costs are significant. An embedded generation option for health facilities (hospitals) will reduce operating costs whilst providing security and quality of supply,” he said.

Costing scenarios

Ramokgopa added that ministry has already set in motion costing scenarios for the installation of alternative energy sources for hospitals to address “the impact of load shedding and mitigate the impact of high diesel costs on medical facilities.”

“Based on the Department of Health figures, to cover 137 hospitals (varying between small and large), R10.1 billion capital expenditure will be required to provide a combined solar, battery, and inverter solution.

“In contrast, for the same 137 small hospitals, diesel generators will cost R89.1 million in capital costs, whilst large hospitals will cost R411 million (capital costs). However, the operating cost (primarily diesel purchase) will cost R3.3 billion and R655 Million annually for large and small hospitals, respectively,” he said.

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Blackout

Meanwhile, Ramokgopa also stressed that higher stages of load shedding does not mean a greater risk of a national blackout or a grid collapse.

Echoing President Cyril Ramaphosa and Eskom, Ramokgopa warned that it was going to be a difficult winter for the country.

“The winter outlook indicates an increased risk of supply shortfall against expected demand, with our worst-case scenario indicating that load shedding could intensify to higher stages if our interventions are unsuccessful.”

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Grid collapse improbable

However, he stressed that a total grid collapse was improbable.

“I should hasten to stress that an increase in load shedding levels does not mean a greater risk of a national blackout, instead load shedding is a tool to prevent such an occurrence by managing the demand for electricity at a given time.

“A national blackout or grid collapse remains highly improbable as multiple safeguards are in place to ensure that it does not occur,” he said.

Other interventions

Ramokgopa also said other interventions to mitigate higher stages of load shedding by Eskom include importing power from Lesotho and Namibia, while Karpowerships, he said, could reduce the rolling blackouts by two stages.

He said the energy availability factor has improved and currently sits at 54%, predicting that it would be at 65% by early next year.

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