High alert for South Africa as winter loadshedding starts

With South Africa expected to experience a surge in electricity demand during the winter months, Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa emphasised the need for ‘immediate attention’ to six power stations during a media briefing on Monday, 25 March.

According to BusinessTech, May marks the beginning of the colder months, a period when Eskom anticipates a surge in electricity demand. This increased demand puts pressure on the grid and can lead to higher levels of loadshedding.

Also read: Energy report warns Eskom of 13 stages of loadshedding

The six power stations, including Tutuka, Kendal, Kusile and Majuba, are ‘likely to give us the best returns’, according to Ramokgopa.

Ramokgopa has also stated that while the arrangement of investing in maintenance and upgrades ‘across the entire fleet of Eskom’ is not isolated to particular stations, the aforementioned stations are problematic and therefore need urgent maintenance.

Evening Peak 22/03/2024(18:54)
– Eskom Availability: 27 117MW
– Loadshedding:1 560 MW
– Total demand: 26 547 MW
—————————————-
– Number of OCGT’s Utilised: 10
– Renewable Gen: 1 709 MW
– ⁠RES: Wind 1 356 MW, CSP 174 MW, PV 179 MW
– IPP Availability (Dispatchable): 847 MW
-…

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) March 23, 2024

In an X post on Saturday, Eskom announced that 6 705 megawatts (MW) of electricity are currently down for planned maintenance, while 14 428 MW are offline for unplanned maintenance.

The current planned maintenance can also be seen as preparation for the anticipated spike in electricity demand in the upcoming months.

Eskom will also present its winter loadshedding plan at ‘a later stage’, according to Ramokgopa.

Also read:

City of Cape Town implements measures to combat ‘loadshedding-related vandalism’

Picture: Pok Rie / Pexels

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