Ramokgopa 'disappointed' at load shedding return

The minister, alongside Eskom, provided an update on South Africa's electricity generation performance in Pretoria during a media briefing on Saturday.

This comes after the power utility announced the implementation of Stage 3 load shedding from Friday until Monday due to unplanned losses and to replenish emergency reserves over the weekend while high levels of planned maintenance continued.

Ramokgopa said that several problem areas have been identified.

"This is the third setback in a period of about thirty days, and it's totally unacceptable because we were on a good run," Ramokgopa said.

"At the peak of this run, we were experiencing unplanned capacity loss factor of between 8,500 and 11,000 megawatts, and now we are breaching 14,000 megawatts.

"It's an illustration of something that has gone wrong, and we have begun to identify it, but it requires a much more robust and honest conversation amongst the leadership core to ensure that that which has been working we are maintaining, and that areas that require improvement we are able to improve on.

"Where we have regressed, we need to ensure that we decisively deal with those areas so that it doesn't undermine our overall quest to finally end load shedding."

Eskom CEO Dan Marokane reiterated the power utility’s commitment to bolstering electricity generation as it focuses on bringing new capacity online and completing its maintenance.

He said that their focus remained on bringing new capacity online.

"Kusile Unit 6 is going through its last commissioning stages, and they expect it to be synchronised to the grid by 18 March," Marokane said

"At the end of March and April, the Medupi Unit 4 should also be synchronised.

"It is the combination of maintained units and the new capacity that will essentially form the backbone of our entry into the winter period, and the winter period plans to be announced at the end of March."

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