Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. Picture: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu
South Africa’s energy generation situation is looking good but the country must not “rest on its laurels”.
Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramakgopa gave confident reassurance during a briefing on energy generating capacity on Monday.
The minister also used the briefing to announce the preferred bidders for the most recent bid windows for independent power producers (IPP) and battery energy storage system (BESS) operators.
A highlight for Ramakgopa in 2024 was the reduction in the number of unplanned breakdowns at the country’s power stations.
He stated that they had reduced the amount of lost generation capacity at any given time from 18 000 megawatts (MW) to 11 000 MW.
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He added that several power stations had been removed from the list of problematic stations and were now operating at a level deemed “efficient.”
Ramakgopa has set an Energy Availability Factor (EAP) target of 70%, which his ministry believes will offer the stability needed to grow the economy by up to 3.5% in the coming years.
Increasing the output of individual stations is a priority for the minister, and was he happy to report that several stations had made good progress in 2024.
Tutuka Power Station reduced its lost generating capacity due to unplanned breakdowns by 60%, while Kendal, Majuba and Matla powers station each reduced their losses by 35% this year.
Kusile saw the biggest improvement, reducing its losses by 52%, however, Kriel was lagging behind as it only registered a 3% reduction in losses.
Ramakgopa did not place too much emphasis on the net gains, preferring to focus on the performances of each station so that the ministry could focus its attention on problematic areas.
He said the increases in efficiency would later benefit the consumer and credited President Cyril Ramaphosa for creating stability within Eskom.
Additionally, he highlighted the extension of Koeberg’s operating licence as well as the ongoing refuelling of the nuclear plant’s steam system which is expected to bring added megawatts in January.
In August, the seventh window of the renewable energy IPP procurement programme was announced.
This is an ongoing project to have the private sector augment supply to the national grid, with Ramakgopa announcing the eight IPPs that will be adding just short of 1 800MWs to the grid.
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The eight preferred bidders were Highveld Solar Consortium, Palladium Solar Consortium, Copper Solar 1 Consortium, Vanadium Solar 1 Consortium, Middelpunt Solar PV, Mercury Solar PV and both Onderstepoort Solar 1 and 2 projects.
The second window for BESS was targeted at operators able to provide a combined 615MW storage capacity for eight substations mainly situated in the North West, Free State and Gauteng.
The preferred bidders were Rooikoppies BESS, Welverdiend BESS and Mulilo Mercury BESS, among others.
“We are thinking about tomorrow, we are thinking about the future. Don’t rest on your laurels, we want to get to a point where we completely eliminate load shedding from our vocabulary,” said Ramakgopa.
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