By Johnathan Paoli
ELECTRICITY Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has praised the state power utility Eskom for its achievement of an energy availability factor (EAF) of 70.78%, achieved for the first time in three years.
The EAF measures the performance of the country’s power stations and is an important indicator of the health of the grid.
Ramokgopa, during his weekly briefing on the Energy Implementation Plan, said the improved levels were due to the efficiency of planned maintenance, and had resulted in a substantially decreased reliance on Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs).
He said between May 5 to 11, OCGTs were in use for just four days, with just over R53 million spent on diesel on those days.
He said the appropriation of 18% of the total generation capacity into planned maintenance at the beginning of the year, in addition to utilizing periods of low demand for further maintenance; is part of the turnaround strategy of the government.
This comes in the midst of media reports last week that stated Eskom had increased its use of diesel for the OCGTs.
Many, including the power utility’s former CEO Andre de Ruyter have claimed that Eskom is guilty of consuming excessive amounts of diesel in order to keep the lights on and that the current state of affairs is part of an electioneering ploy. The minister has, however, denied these claims.
“What we are told in the public domain is that this improvement is sudden, to have achieved this kind of exceptional performance. This couldn’t be further from the truth. This achievement is anchored by Kusile and many other power stations,” the minister said.
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said the continuous suspension of load shedding was due to sufficient generation capacity, resulting from a more reliable generation fleet.
Mokwena said loadshedding would remain suspended, due to the notable and consistent improvement in generation performance.
“The suspension is primarily due to extensive planned maintenance during the summer period and the implementation of the Generation Operational Recovery Plan, which commenced in March last year,” Mokwena said.
In addition, the National Energy Regulator of SA (NERSA) has also denied claims that Eskom has spent more than half of its quarterly diesel budget.
President Cyril Ramaphosa praised the Energy Action Plan and said that the end to load shedding is in sight.
“It is too early to say that load shedding has been brought to an end. However, the sustained improvement in the performance of Eskom’s power stations, as well as the new generation capacity we have added to our energy system gives us hope that the end of load shedding is in sight,” Ramaphosa said.
The country has currently experienced 47 days without load shedding and speculation is rife that it will return as soon as the elections are over.
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