By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa’s record stretch of load shedding will continue this week, with Eskom confirming Stage 3 load shedding will remain in place until 05:00 on Thursday morning.
The extended load shedding is required due to a shortage of generation capacity as a result of persistently high levels of breakdowns.
Eskom will publish a further update on Wednesday afternoon or as soon as there are any significant changes.
“Following the shutdown of Camden Power Station due to the de-mineralised water contamination last week, the first of seven generating units returned to service on Saturday evening. The remaining units are anticipated to return to service over the next eight days, while one will remain on planned maintenance,” Eskom said.
A generating unit each at Kusile and Majuba power stations were returned to service. Meanwhile, a generating unit each at Duvha, Kendal, Komati, Kusile, Matimba, Lethabo and Tutuka power stations were taken offline for repairs.
“Furthermore, the delay of two generating units at Kendal power station and one generating unit at Tutuka power station have added to the capacity constraint,” it said.
Emergency generation facilities have been adequately replenished, however.
The group currently has 6,893MW on planned maintenance, while another 16,168MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.
Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.
Meanwhile Mandy Rambharos has confirmed on Twitter that she is joining the Environmental Defense Fund, a large US non-profit. The organisation, founded in 1967, is based in New York.
Rambharos, head of Eskom’s energy transition department, has resigned just as negotiations with some of the world’s richest nations to secure $8.5 billion (R154 billion) in climate finance for South Africa and its state power utility become ever more complex.
Her resignation comes ahead of the COP27 international climate summit in Egypt in November. At the meeting, South Africa and its funding partners — the US, UK, Germany, France and European Union – are aiming to make an announcement on the program, announced at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021.
The bulk of the finance is targeted at helping Eskom close down some of its older, coal-fired power plants and repurpose them to produce cleaner energy as part of a so-called “just energy transition.”
Rambharos was also a member of the President Climate Change Commission. Spokesperson Blessing Manale said the commission could not immediately comment on whether she would remain available as a commissioner. Manale said the commission would likely discuss the matter with the Presidency soon.
Eskom’s board has been replaced this week, and the new directors have been handed the fate of CEO Andre de Ruyter, who is fighting for his job.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has backed the new board members of Eskom to help tackle load shedding and other challenges the power utility is facing.
Speaking to the media in Kimberley, Northern Cape, during the ANC’s Letsema campaign on Saturday, Ramaphosa said he hailed the new Eskom board of “capable individuals”.
“It’s a diverse mixture of experience [and] expertise. This is a wonderful, wholesome board. The mandate they have is to make Eskom work and they will evaluate everything from the executives right through to the manner in which Eskom has been functioning or should function.
“So we have a great deal of confidence in that board. They have the responsibility to lead Eskom forward,” he said.
The president also pointed that government would continue to be engaged with Eskom in order to address the problems at the power utility.
“The key focus is to ensure that the load shedding that our country is going through does come to an end and we will support the new board.
“We will give them various resources that they need to make sure that energy is restored to the level that all South Africans expect. Let us wish them well in the difficult task that they have,” Ramaphosa said.