Ramokgopa defends Eskom's R5 billion diesel spend to prevent load shedding
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Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has defended Eskom's heavy use of diesel this winter, saying it was necessary to avoid load shedding during peak demand.
Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday morning, Ramokgopa gave an update on the state of the electricity grid and admitted that Eskom faced significant challenges at the start of the financial year.
"It's not a secret that we experienced significant challenges at the beginning of the financial year in April, and we relied more and more on diesel to be able to support us," Ramokgopa said.
Ramokgopa explained that diesel use is part of Eskom's emergency response plan for periods of high risk, especially in winter.
"This diesel was able to support us because it is meant to support us during those periods of difficulty. Of course, the budget for the diesel is about R12 billion or so.
"We have spent about R5 billion of that, and the next question you might ask is why, at the beginning of the financial year, you have spent over 40% of your annual allocation".
He further added that the increased diesel use is a strategic response to the heightened risk during winter months, when electricity demand peaks and the ageing power infrastructure is more vulnerable to breakdowns.
"It's because it's during winter when the intensity of the demand reaches its peak, and then when we're likely to experience challenges if some units fail because we don't have the headroom to be able to absorb those failures of the units."
"So what do we do? We then call on our ace card, which is the pickers to come and help us. Just to give you context for the period of 1 April to 31 August in 2023, just that period, we used about R14.8 billion
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