By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minsiter in the presidency responsible for electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says Unit 6 at Kusile Power Station is expected to return to the grid in November, while Eskom’s energy availability factor (EAF) plunged to a new low for February.
Ramokgopa revealed this whilst engaging with business leaders in Durban about energy challenges and possible interventions.
“There’s Unit 6 that was going to come on stream much later, but that unit is going to come on stream in November this year.”
Ramokgopa also announced that a second-hand unit from the Netherlands will be synchronised to the grid.
The unit arrived in the country two weeks ago and will be used to revive Unit 4 at Medupi Power Station, which has been out of commission following a fire.
“So essentially, we purchased a second-hand unit. It’s on its way to Medupi, and we are confident that we will be synchronising it there it will contribute 800MW to the grid. We have reduced the return period of that unit by a year, so it’s coming back early in September this year.”
Ramokgopa added that load shedding will still be around for “some time” – and …signalling that even beyond the elections.
Meanwhile Eskom’s energy availability factor (EAF) plunged to 50.84% – a new low for February. This also means the utility is now on track to miss the EAF target it set for March 2024 and is actually worse off than 2023.
The EAF shows the percentage of time the power station was available for use when it was needed. It is a core measure of performance for any power utility.
In January 2023, Eskom’s board indicated that it had embarked on a journey to improve plant performance and reduce load-shedding.
The board set targets of a 60% EAF by 31 March 2023, 65% EAF by 31 March 2024, and 70% by 31 March 2025.
However, Eskom is on track to miss this target by a long shot.
While Eskom’s EAF did hit 60% in 2023, this only happened very briefly in October (missing the March deadline by seven months), and it hasn’t come close since. In fact, Eskom has barely managed to keep EAF above the 50% since that point.