Ramokgopa says planned maintenance is why SA still seeing stage 3 and 4 load shedding

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa on Sunday said that Eskom has ramped up its planned maintenance of its power stations, which is why South Africans have experienced stage 3 and 4 load shedding this week.

Increased maintenance

Ramokgopa had previously said that maintenance would be increased during the summer months.

He said South Africa lost about 2 500MW to 3 000MW to planned maintenance in winter. That figure reached a high of 7 000MW on 8 December.

“That means there’s an additional 4 000MW that has been taken [off the grid],” he said.

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Burning less diesel

Ramokgopa also said that Eskom’s open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) have been used less. He said they’ve “taken a conscious decision” to be “more judicious” on how much diesel is being burnt at the OCGTs.

He added there is around R30 billion that has been allocated towards diesel in the budget. “You don’t want to get to a situation where you are running out of funds.”

This would also have contributed to the stage 3 and 4 load shedding currently in place.

Pump storage

The electricity minister said Eskom’s pump storage facilities were in good health.

“They are in a good state and that’s why Eskom was able to announce some degree of reprieve – and we really think that if we keep to this, we shouldn’t see any degree of significant deterioration [and] we shouldn’t see an intensification of load shedding.”

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Load shedding schedule

Over the weekend, Eskom announced that load shedding would be suspended from 9pm on Saturday until 4pm on Sunday.

The power utility said the suspension of the power cuts was due to improved generation capacity and improved emergency reserves.

It said it provide the week’s outlook on Sunday afternoon.

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