Picture: iStock
Eskom gave itself a pat on the back on Friday by stating it has managed to reduce its diesel bill by R9.59 billion over the last five months.
Eskom has historically spent a lot of money on diesel to keep its open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) running.
Its diesel spend was particularly heavy during heavy periods of load shedding.
“The generation operational recovery plan continues to deliver efficiencies for Eskom, with R9.59 billion reduction in OCGTs diesel expenditure from 1 April 2024 to 7 August 2024, compared to the same period last year,” said Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena.
Eskom said it spent R3.48 billion on OCGTs between 1 April and 7 August 2024. It spent R13.07 billion last year over the same period.
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Eskom also highlighted the improved performance of its power stations.
“Eskom maintained an average energy availability factor (EAF) of 68% over the past seven days. In the month of July, Eskom achieved an EAF of 67.41%. The last time we achieved this performance was in July 2021.
“Over the past seven days, Medupi, Majuba, Matla, Lethabo, Kusile and the peaking stations recorded an EAF greater than 70%. Additionally, four more power stations achieved an EAF above 60%. Notably, five of these stations were part of the priority list in our recovery plan.”
Mokwena said Eskom’s operational efficiency had “surpassed” its expectations for the winter months.
“Current unplanned outages average between 9 800MW and 12 400MW since 1 April 2024… Today’s figure is at 10 757MW and is still significantly lower than the winter 2024 forecast.”
As of Friday, South Africa has not experienced load shedding for 135 days.
“The last time South Africa experienced over four months of load shedding suspension was more than four years ago, from 16 March 2020 to 9 July 2020, when loadshedding was suspended for 116 days,” said Mokwena.
Eskom said this is largely due to the reduction in unplanned outages of its generation units between April and August and an increase in planned maintenance.
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