Load shedding situation ‘more of the same’, says analyst
Independent energy analyst Chris Yelland says the government cannot expect an improvement in the load-shedding situation unless it deals with Eskom’s ageing fleet of coal-fired power stations.
South Africa is considering extending the lifespan of some of its biggest coal-fired power plants as the government seeks to address the country’s energy crisis.
Among the power plants up for consideration are Kendal and Lethabo, as both account for a large percentage of the country’s energy capacity.
Earlier this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted that the power plants are failing because of being neglected in the past.
At the same time, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the government needs nearly R400 billion over the next 10 years to expand the grid capacity to meet demand.
This would mostly be used to bring renewable energy projects online.
“I think this is just a reflection of the fact that try as one might, the plant is getting older every single year, and you cannot expect an old plant that has been pushed hard and neglected in the past to perform like a new plant. At some stage, these plants…need to be replaced,” said Yelland.
Unit 1 at the Koeberg Power Station in the Western Cape was successfully connected back to the grid on Saturday after almost a year of being offline.
The unit was supposed to be serviced and connected back online in June.
“The short and tall of it is that we are seeing more of the same, in other words, increased levels of unplanned outages, units being shut down, and these units taking longer to repair than was originally planned, and this worsening the energy availability factor,” said Yelland.
Eskom placed the country on stage 4 load shedding on Wednesday.
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