By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Eskom has announced that load shedding will be kept to stage 1 and stage 2 over the coming weekend, but will still be at stage 3 on Friday.
Load shedding will also continue into next week, it said, though it anticipates lower stages of load shedding will be adequate, as some units return to service.
“This will be confirmed closer to the time, or as major changes occur. Should anything change in the intervening period, Eskom will communicate and implement any changes as may be necessary, “it said.
The group said that it currently has 4,501MW on planned maintenance, while another 16,320MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
“As the generation capacity shortages persist over the next few weeks, load shedding will continue to be implemented at various stages. Eskom cautions the public that it will still take a few weeks for the power generation system to recover.”
For Thursday, load shedding will continue at stage 3 until 16h00, then it will escalate to stage 4 until midnight. The new schedule also shows time slots where no load shedding is planned, pointing to a steady move back to only peak-hour load shedding.
Joanne Yawitch, commissioner of the National Planning Commission says that plans are already in place to end load shedding in South Africa, which if sped up could come sooner.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday in his weekly newsletter, that as load shedding appears to have worsened, the government is preparing steps to accelerate an increase in electricity supply. “The reality is that we have already taken several important actions to address the shortfall in electricity supply.
“Our immediate priority is to stabilise the electricity system. As the system recovers and generation capacity is restored, Eskom will be able to reduce load shedding to lower stages,” he said.
This mandate appears to have been fulfilled by the state power utility as it implemented stage 1 load shedding on Thursday morning for the first time in some time, having enforced stage 6 power cuts over much of July already.
“The bottom line is that we need to add more capacity to the grid,” said the president. “This will create space for Eskom to undertake critical maintenance and increase the reliability of its fleet. It will also create a buffer so that even if several units experience breakdowns at once, other sources can be used.”
Yawitch said that “there are already things that are in process that, if they were speeded up, if they were streamlined, [and] if it was made easier to get them implemented, those things would have a significant impact in alleviating the load shedding crisis that we are currently facing”.
The National Planning Commission said in a report last week that the most immediate priority is to ensure that new generation capacity is rapidly and urgently brought onto the grid, together with significant new storage capacity.
“Evidence suggests it is possible to do this within 24 months if 10,000 MW of new generation capacity is rapidly constructed and commissioned as well as 5,000 MW of storage capacity.”
The NPC said that solar and wind power projects can be built rapidly within two to three years. “Ending load shedding needs to become a unifying national goal for the whole country and all stakeholders, “it said.
For this to happen, it called for a declaration of an ‘energy emergency’ to make it possible to override some of the red tape preventing the acceleration of delivery of new generation capacity.
To achieve the overall goal of 10,000 MW of new generation capacity and 5,000 MW of storage, it will be necessary to remove key obstacles. To this end, the NPC is of the view that:
°The 100MW ceiling should be removed because Eskom’s grid code and grid connection authorization process is sufficient to regulate this growing market.
°Any NERSA registration process that delays the implementation of projects should be scrapped and replaced with an online registration procedure for database purposes only.
°Environmental and water use approvals must be streamlined, to take advantage of the Renewable Energy Development Zone framework that allows for fast-tracking of approvals.
There must be a temporary exemption from local content requirements for the construction and commissioning of new generation and storage capacity due to come online in the next 36 months.
In parallel, The NPC said that key stakeholders should reach a formal agreement that strikes a balance between short-term importation of components with the need for phasing in upstream industrialization over the medium- to long-term.
Ramaphosa said that the increase of the licensing threshold for new generation projects to 100 MW has unlocked a massive potential pipeline of investment. The reform means that private investors do not require a license to build generation facilities up to this size.
“Eskom has made land available next to existing power stations for private investment in renewable energy projects. Design modifications have been completed to improve the performance of Medupi units 1, 2 and 3 and are underway in units 5 and 6. While these actions are significant and will bear fruit over the coming months, they are clearly not enough to address the crisis that we face, “the president said.
Ramaphosa said that the government has spent the past two weeks working on a range of additional measures to accelerate all efforts to increase the country’s electricity supply. “The message is clear: this is no time for business as usual. We need to act boldly to make load shedding a thing of the past.”