Cape Town – Load shedding isn’t going anywhere any time soon, with Eskom’s recovery plan only expected to bear fruit in about two years, the power utility announced on Sunday.
“The recovery plan requires that power stations are given head room to execute. We want to ensure we create some predictability by implementing some level of permanent stage between stage two and three load shedding for the next two years. In order to give sufficient space for maintenance while giving the country a level of consistency to plan livelihoods better,” Eskom chairperson, Mpho Makwana said.
Makwana was addressing the media via a virtual briefing on Sunday.
He said that over the past 112 days, the Eskom board had met almost 50 times discussing the power utility’s generation recovery plan among others, which was approved on December 10, 2022.
The plan performance recovery plan, he said, was in the final stages.
The briefing was the first, in at least three weeks, while the public have been battling continuous high stages of load shedding and the announcement of a 18.65% tariff price hike approaching in April.
Makwana said: “The reality is that the recovery of the Eskom coal fleet, currently comprising 80% of our generation power mix, will not be achieved within a short term.
“It will take at least two years to reach the desired energy availability factor.
“We are moving from a low base currently at 58% to 70% in two years."
He said they were working toward 60% EAF by March this year, then 65% in a year’s time by March 2024 and 70% by March 31, 2025.
The recovery plan is part of a Eskom 2035 corporate strategy.
Eskom said it was grappling with “deep structural and maintenance problems” in its current and ageing fleet of generators, which are on average 45 years of age this year.
“In this context, Eskom reiterates that the only way to end load shedding is to add additional capacity. The shortfall is currently estimated at 4 000MW – 6 000MW of generation capacity,” Eskom said.
Cape Times