Ramokgopa says SA will go into winter with a solid load shedding buffer

CAPE TOWN - Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the country will see winter with a good buffer from severe load shedding.

He said there has been planned maintenance of generation units during the summer period.

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Answering questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Ramokgopa said the planned outages will taper off at the end of March.

He said although Eskom won’t reach the 65% energy availability factor by the end of March, it’s on course to reach 75% in a year from now.

"The downside of increased maintenance was a negative impact on EAF [energy availability factor]. 

"However, a deliberate spike in planned maintenance aims to improve the reliability of the generation fleet, deliver long-term benefits, and ensure the security of energy supply."

A year into the job, Ramokgopa insists electricity generation in the country has improved.

He said the three days of Stage 6 load shedding experienced in February was an exception due to several units breaking down simultaneously.

“There’s been a gradual improvement brought about by the generation operational recovery plan and has started to yield visible results as far as the frequency and the intensity of load shedding is concerned, especially in the past five and half months.”