According to Minister for Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, it is important for Eskom to increase the reliability of generating units in order to maintain the credibility of efforts to lessen the intensity of load shedding. The Minister was speaking at Arnot Power Station in Mpumalanga on Monday, where he kicked off a series of follow-up visits to power stations.
“We are on track to reducing significantly the intensity of load shedding. Of course, we had a period of eight days with no load shedding, then we hit a snag where 11 units were out as a result of boiler tube leaks. Those units are coming back. It’s important that we maintain the reliability of these units so that we are able to restore and maintain the credibility of our efforts and the ability of Eskom to resolve this challenge,” he said.
Ramokgopa said over the next two months, more generating units are expected to return to service – further boosting generation capacity for the grid. “We are expecting Kusile [Power Station] Unit 2 to come on stream by the third week of November, and Unit 5 by the third week of December. But that’s not sufficient. We need additional generation capacity, especially renewable energy sources, because the Eskom fleet alone won’t resolve load shedding and secure energy security. That’s why we are investing a lot of effort and resources to ensure that we find a solution for the financing and rollout of transmission,” he said.
The Minister said financing for the rollout will cost “upward of R390 billon".
For more information: sanews.gov.za