Eskom consistently burns diesel to stave off loadshedding – energy expert
South Africa has reached a milestone of 35 consecutive days without load shedding. But it won't last. Winter is coming.
Trails of lights from passing vehicles in Braamfontein, Johannesburg while the area is submerged in darkness due to load shedding. Picture: AFP
Africa Melane speaks with Matthew Cruise, an Energy Expert at Forest Energy.
Listen to the interview using the audio player below.
Eskom says the energy availability factor of its coal-fired fleet is up to 65%.
The Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor, which is the ratio between the unavailable energy of units out on unplanned outages compared to the total net installed capacity, has reached 10 966 megawatts.
ALSO READ:
Frequency of load shedding coming down because of aggressive, planned maintenance – Ramokgopa
Stage 16 load shedding guidelines an ‘insurance measure’ - Ramokgopa
Cruise says Eskom has been coordinating planned maintenance well, preventing power cuts.
He commends the private sector for bringing so much solar generation online, reducing the demand for electricity from the grid.
According to Eskom, around 5500 megawatts of solar have been installed at businesses and homes, equivalent to five stages of load shedding.
“There has been a concerted effort from both sides. Both from government to address load shedding and then also from private taking care of their own energy needs.”
- Matthew Cruise, Energy expert - Forest Energy
However, he warns the respite will not continue into winter and we will see a return of load shedding.
“We will see up to stage four load shedding during the next three months.”
- Matthew Cruise, Energy expert at Forest Energy
Cruise suspects that some units that have undergone maintenance have been brought back online sooner than they should have, meaning they will have to go offline sooner.
Eskom has been consistently firing diesel to prevent load shedding; if it had not done that, we would have been at stage two.
“There is manipulation taking place that I can see.”
- Matthew Cruise, Energy expert at Forest Energy
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.