Eskom records low diesel usage and spend
Eskom has reported lower diesel usage and spend for its open cycle gas turbines (OCGT) which use diesel to generate electricity, from October 2015 until April 2016.
“This is due to the improved performance of our base-load fleet,” the parastatal said in a statement on Sunday.
The energy sent out from OCGTs had decreased from 381GWh in October 2015 to 6GWh in April 2016. This had resulted in a decrease in diesel costs from R854 million to less than R25 million over the same period. The OCGT load factor had also decreased from 21.2% to 0.4%, it said.
“This week, in terms of OCGT usage, we have only run two units on Thursday thus far and recorded a month to date load factor of 0.32 percent.
“Due to the increased resilience that Eskom has built into the power system over the past few months, no load shedding has been implemented since August 2015 (except for two hours and 20 minutes) leading to close to 300 days without load shedding.”
The generation plant performance was steadily continuing on an upward trajectory. The year to date performance stood at an energy availability factor (EAF) of 76.87%, planned maintenance of 12 percent, and total unplanned breakdowns of 11.13%.
“This week, Eskom experienced the highest peak of the year, of 34 066MW, which we were able to meet comfortably.”
Eskom would continue with its rigorous programme of planned maintenance without load shedding while also minimising usage of the OCGTs, it said.