Eskom on Tuesday reiterated its commitment to fixing the utility and improving the availability of energy supply.
This was stressed during an online discussion hosted by the University of the Free State earlier on Tuesday, themed “what needs to be done to power up South Africa”.
Due to electricity generation constraints, the utility introduced stage 3 load shedding until 4 pm in the afternoons.
Stage 4 then kicks in from then until midnight.
Eskom’s general manager for strategy and planning Matthew Mflathelwa stressed the utility was focusing on the performance of existing power plants but will also need to invest in a significant amount of new infrastructure.
Mflathelwa said the power company was co-operating with the national energy crisis committee plan announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July year.
“Eskom is contributing quite significantly to the implementation of that plan,” he said.
Mflathelwa said in the face of Eskom’s aging infrastructure, they would have to find a way to ensure the utility sustainably addressed load shedding.
“The big take-away is there is a significant amount of new capacity that needs to be built and the capacity that is going to be built is predominantly going to be renewables. However, it is not the only additional infrastructure that is required, we need an energy mix that can respond and achieve adequacy for the future requirements,” he added.
Eskom said about 60 gigawatts of new renewable capacity were needed by 2030.
-EWN
In other news – No baby number 2 for Faith Nketsi any time soon
South African reality TV star Faith Nketsi has opened up about her birthing experience and the trauma it left her with.
The reality star recently took to Twitter to share her experience with fans, saying she was in labour for 26 hours before she held her baby in her arms which made her think twice about baby number two. “26 hours in labour is enough to make me never ever want to go through that again. Maybe I’ll change my mind one day, who knows. Learn More
