Minister of Energy and Electricity, Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has issued a cautionary note despite Eskom's recent achievements in maintaining load shedding at bay. The country has not experienced load shedding for over 130 days, a milestone not reached in the past four years.
Dr. Ramokgopa praised Eskom CEO Dan Marokane and the power utility's team for their exceptional performance, noting that Eskom has averaged a 70% Energy Availability Factor (EAF) over the past week. EAF measures the reliability of power units in meeting their design capacity and the rate at which units fail. This marks a significant improvement from last year's period, where EAF was around 55%.
He emphasized that while the current performance is promising, South Africa is "not out of the woods yet." The Minister highlighted a significant milestone on July 23, when Eskom achieved over 35,000 MW of availability for the first time since July 16, 2018. This achievement underscores the effectiveness of the strategy adopted by Eskom's board and indicates progress towards stable power supply.
Dr. Ramokgopa also noted improvements at several key power stations. Kusile and Medupi, among the newest facilities, are expected to maintain high performance levels. Encouragingly, older stations like Matla and Matimba have consistently performed well, reaching at least 70% EAF. The Minister praised the healthy intra-station competition, which drives performance improvements.
While acknowledging the progress, Dr. Ramokgopa urged continued vigilance and effort to ensure sustained performance and stability in South Africa's power sector.