By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned ailing power utility Eskom says that load shedding will be eased over the weekend – with hopes that it will move to stage 1 on Sunday (12 March).
Stage 4 load shedding will continue on Friday, before being downgraded to stage 3 on Saturday. The group is planning stage 1 on Sunday, before escalating back to stage 4 in the new week.
Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit each at Duvha, Kriel and Matla power stations were successfully returned to service.
During the same period a generating unit each at Camden and Kendal power stations were taken offline for repairs.
The return to service of a generating unit each at Hendrina, Medupi and Tutuka, power stations are delayed.
The repairs to the damaged towers from Cahora Bassa in Mozambique is continuing and is anticipated to be completed by early next week, Eskom said.
Breakdowns are currently reduced to 16,469MW of generating capacity while 4,652MW of generating capacity is out of service for planned maintenance.
Eskom Operations and Maintenance Manager Daphne Mokwena said the parastatal is looking forward to working with the newly appointed Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
Mokoena said the interventions implemented by Ramokgopa are expected to reduce load shedding.
“We are looking forward to work with him. We are positive that his intervention and SOD (state of disaster) regulations will reduce load shedding. As the minister has announced, the timelines will be shared once ready as they are priority,” Mokoena said.
Ramokgopa has requested patience as he deals with the current load shedding crisis.
South Africa has been in a state of near-permanent load shedding since September 2022, and has experienced 130 consecutive days of blackouts since late October.
Load shedding has hit every single day of 2023 so far, often at high stages.
The rolling blackouts have had a dire impact on the economy, leading to a GDP contraction of 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2022, with many economists expecting the same or worse for the first quarter of 2023.
This would place South Africa into a technical recession.
Given the South African Reserve Bank’s growth estimates for 2023 – a paltry 0.3% – being contingent on South Africa only experiencing 200 days of load shedding, the current prospects for annual GDP do not look good.
Economists have warned that if load shedding is not resolved, South Africa risks facing recession over a much longer term.
Meanwhile Western Cape premier Alan Winde hosted the province’s second “Energy Digicon” on Thursday, laying out broad plans for the region to reduce the impact of rolling blackouts on businesses and citizens.
The conference also touched on what is being done to reduce the province’s reliance on power utility Eskom in the future.
The provincial government laid out short, medium- and long-term projects that are currently underway. These include:
- Load shedding Relief Programme – this will, amongst others, see emergency packs consisting of power packs distributed to indigent households;
- Provincial Integrated Resource Plan – this includes a basket of options, including green and alternative energy sources;
- Demand Side Management Programme – incentivising and rewarding the public to play its part in taking the strain off of the power grid by reducing power usage wherever they can;
- New Emergency Generation Programme;
- Network Development Programme
One of the key plans in the province is the George Municipality’s Energy Resilience Plan, which will see three solar plants being commissioned in the region between 2023 and 2025, as well as building a battery storage facility.
By turning to self-generation – as well as reducing consumption – the municipality aims to cushion residents from “several stages of power cuts”.
“Our municipalities have been hard at work drawing up their own energy plans. We must confront this disaster both at the provincial government and local government levels. It is only by working together through partnerships that we will be able to end the blackouts,” Winde said.