Eskom Boosts Winter Maintenance Amid Soft Demand and Decrease in Breakdowns
Eskom, South Africa's state-owned power utility, has taken advantage of lower-than-expected outages and reduced demand to intensify its winter maintenance efforts, according to Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. Speaking at a media briefing on Sunday, Ramokgopa emphasized the significance of being able to ramp up planned maintenance during the winter season. Last Friday, Eskom managed to take 4,300MW offline for maintenance, a notable increase from the 2,800MW scheduled at the beginning of the week.
Ramokgopa highlighted that the peak demand during this winter season reached 31,000MW, which was lower than Eskom's earlier forecast of 34,000MW. Additionally, the number of unplanned breakdowns decreased to below 14,000MW on Friday, down from 16,400MW at the start of the week. Eskom's available capacity hovered around 29,000MW. The improved generation capacity has resulted in fewer instances of load shedding during significant periods of the day.
While Ramokgopa refrained from providing a specific timeline for the end of load shedding, he acknowledged that without significant improvements, South Africa was on track for its worst-ever year of power outages. He stressed the importance of addressing transmission grid bottlenecks, particularly in the Northern Cape, Western Cape, and Eastern Cape. Ramokgopa warned that without resolving these constraints, it would be challenging to swiftly build the necessary new generation capacity. Encouraging private sector involvement, he emphasized the need to ensure adequate grid capacity for potential investors in these regions.
Efforts to improve maintenance and address transmission challenges remain critical for Eskom as it strives to meet demand and avert load shedding incidents.