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The South African
01-05-2025
- Business
- The South African
Will there be load shedding this winter? Energy Minister gives his verdict…
On Wednesday, Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said South Africans could be in for a winter without load-shedding. This is thanks to improved generation capacity and the return of key power units. Speaking at the G20 Energy Transitions Working Group meeting in Cape Town, Ramokgopa expressed cautious optimism about a blackout-free winter. Ramokgopa emphasised that power plant performance is expected to match — if not exceed — last year's levels. He noted that there is 'no reason' for performance to decline, despite some ongoing challenges. Without giving too much away, he said a more detailed winter outlook will be presented on 5 May. 'When we went into winter last year, we didn't have Kusile Unit 6, so we didn't have that 800MW,' Ramokgopa told EWN . 'The second thing is that we didn't have Medupi 4. We will have Medupi 4 by the end of May, which has been out for about four years, so that's another 800MW.' 'We are also going to have the benefits of both Koeberg units.' To that end, Koeberg unit number 1 is expected to come back online in July. Altogether, the country is projected to have about 2 500MW more electricity during peak winter demand than it did last year. South Africans have a right to be skeptical however, after Eskom announced Stage 2 load shedding last Thursday. This marked the first time in over 30 days that the power utility enforced rolling blackouts. In a statement, Eskom attributed the load shedding to the loss of generation units and higher-than-usual demand. By Friday morning, the power utility declared that there had been a recovery of generation units, and suspended load shedding. Nonetheless, with winter looming, it didn't inspire confidence about energy availibility over the coming months. While acknowledging that the Energy Availability Factor (EAF) remained below ideal levels in April, Ramokgopa attributed the recent issues to isolated post-maintenance failures. 'That was post-outage failure,' the Minister added. 'When you take the unit out on planned maintenance, when it comes back, it can still present a significant number of challenges. So that's something the team is addressing.' 'I really don't foresee that we are going to perform below what we did last year.' Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Eyewitness News
01-05-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Ramokgopa predicts a load shedding free winter
CAPE TOWN - Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is predicting a load shedding free winter. He expects the country's power plants to perform at the same capacity they did last winter, saying there's no reason for performance to regress. READ: Nuclear energy to play key role in lessening SA's carbon footprint: Ramokgopa Speaking on the sidelines of the G20 Energy Transitions Working Group meeting in Cape Town on Wednesday, Ramokgopa did not want to give too much away, saying he plans to provide a detailed winter outlook next week. "When we went into winter last year, we didn't have Kusile Unit 6, so we didn't have that 800 MW. The second one is that we didn't have Medupi 4. We will have Medupi 4 by the end of May, which has been out for about four years, so it's another 800mw. And then we are going to have the benefits of both Koeberg units. We are anticipating that Koeberg Unit Number 1 is going to come back around in July or so." Ramokgopa says that at the winter peak, the country will have an additional 2500mw of electricity it didn't have last winter. While the energy availability factor was not at optimal levels last month [April], Ramokgopa says the problems have been isolated. "One of the reasons we found is post-outage failure, so you take the unit out on planned maintenance, when it comes back, it still has a significant number of challenges. So that's something the team led by the executive Mr Bheki Nxumalo is addressing. So I really don't foresee that we are going to perform below what we did last year."
