Minister Ramokgopa says South Africa can look forward to festive season with no load shedding

Minister of Energy and Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said that the country would have a festive season with no load shedding.

In a written parliamentary reply, Ramokgopa told the legislature that Eskom’s generation fleet was “showing more reliable performance” going into summer and this could be sustained.

He said that the Eskom fleet would also be assisted by new generation capacity in line with the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), including the conversion of the open cycle gas turbines (OCGT) from diesel to gas.

It looks like South Africa will head into the festive season with no load shedding as more energy becomes available, unlike in previous years.

That’s according to Ramokgopa, who said that since the beginning of this year “Eskom’s plant availability has been trending upwards”.

He said this was supported by the decrease in unplanned losses, which has been maintained to below 14,000 megawatts throughout the winter period.

Ramokgopa was responding to questions by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)’s Omphile Maotwe, who asked whether load shedding “has now completely stopped” and whether the country can expect a sudden return of blackouts.

But Ramokgopa said that all indications suggest that the current “performance” was sustainable in the summer of 2024, and they would continue to drive efforts to complement the coal fleet with new generation capacity.

-TL

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