PHUTI MOSOMANE
DR KGOSIENTSHO Ramokgopa, an ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) member and the Minister of Electricity, announced on Saturday that the South African government has procured a second-hand generator from the Netherlands to ease load shedding in South Africa.
Ramokgopa was briefing the media on discussions about energy security plans for South Africa on the side-lines of the ordinary ANC NEC meeting along with Chairperson of the Economic Transformation NEC Subcommittee, Mmamoloko Kubayi.
He said that the generator has a lifespan of over 30 years, despite being 15 years old.
“We were able to find a second-hand generator in the Netherlands, it’s about 15 years of age. The lifespan of it [the generator] is over 30 years,” said Ramokgopa.
He also discussed the urgent interventions at Medupi unit 4, which has experienced problems, and announced that by April 2024, approximately 800 megawatts will be supplied by the unit. In Kusile power station, three units will be returned by November.
He said that in the next 6 to 18 months, the unit will provide an additional 2000 megawatts. In addition, Eskom has also been granted additional funding relief to procure diesel directly from suppliers, with approximately R30 billion available for this purpose.
“We have confirmed about R30 billion that’s available for diesel procurement. No middleman will be used as Eskom will procure directly from suppliers,” Ramokgopa said, adding that diesel will give Eskom much-needed ‘breather’ with lower stages of loadshedding.
He said Eskom has been aggressive in conducting its planned maintenance ahead of the winter season, adding that only three units will be taken offline.
He used the briefing to reject reports about coal power stations being handed over to the private sector.
“We’ve only asked the private sector (like Business Unity South Africa, or BUSA) to assist us with expertise, but ultimately it is Eskom that is dealing with the power stations,” he told reporters.
The electricity minister is working closely with Eskom to ensure that the energy availability factor (EAF) at coal power stations improves dramatically.
Ramokgopa says within the next 6 to 18 months, government aims to add 12 000 megawatts to the power grid in efforts to ease the impact of load shedding.
Loadshedding will not end by December 2023, but Eskom can reduce its intensity, he said. “It won’t technically be possible to end loadshedding by the end of this calendar year,” he said.
During the same media briefing, Kubayi, Chairperson of the Economic Transformation NEC Subcommittee, refuted media reports about a perceived conflict between the Minister of Electricity and the Minister of Minerals Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe.
Kubayi said that there is no such conflict among ANC deployees.
“There is no Kgosientsho Ramokgopa who is under attack. There isn’t a point of difference among our deployees. What we are having here is an engineering and technical problem. It’s not a political problem at Eskom,” Kubayi said.
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