Eskom Reveals 3,000 Megawatts Improvement in Breakdowns

Energy company Eskom disclosed that there is a 3,000 megawatts improvement in breakdowns, which eventually reduced the stages of load-shedding in the country.

Eskom generation executive, Eric Shunmagum explained that a month ago, the company was between 18,000 megawatts and 19,000 megawatts of breakdowns.

"When you look at it now, the trend is between 14,500 MW and 16,000 MW. So, there is at least a 3,000 MW improvement in breakdowns," Shunmagum said on Sunday, News24 reported. "There is definitely an improvement in generation performance."

The generation executive pointed out that there has been an improvement specifically at Tutuka, Duvha, Kendall, and Majuba power plants.

He credited acting group CEO Calib Cassim, who made it "his priority to dispatch highly experienced general managers to some of these power stations," adding that "it is early days, but there is definitely an improvement."

Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa also addressed the media during the Sunday briefing and said the country is closer to achieving its target of 70 percent Energy Availability Factor (EAF).

Ramokgopa noted that EAF has been consistently at 60 percent for the last 14 days, adding that they are getting closer to the set target. Meeting this target will ensure that there is a boast in the South African economy and benefit households.

"We are getting much closer to the target of 70 percent EAF that we had promised, and the benefit will be to the South African economy, households and the ability to ensure that we achieve the levels of growth that are necessary to improve the performance of the economy," he said, SA News reported.

Ramokgopa went on to praise Eskom for going below 15,000 MW consistently for the first time.

"We have registered multiple instances where we have gone below the 15,000 MW of unplanned capability lost factor, which is an illustration of the degree to which improvements are made, and we are able to keep that consistent over a period of time," Ramokgopa said.

Shunmugam went on to explain that Eskom has added "about 400MW and that is significant, as it illustrates a consistent improvement... The more the units perform, the more opportunity to execute planned maintenance."

He continued, "Planned maintenance has gone up from the previous week's 3,302 MW to 3,451 MW. That is important because the more you have units performing and being consistent, it gives space to execute planned maintenance. These results will be seen over a period of time."

South Africa is going through an electricity crisis and it has recently asked several countries for help including Mozambique and China.

Last week, the South African cabinet welcomed the Power Purchase Agreement with Mozambique, which will be supplying 100 megawatts of electricity within the next three months. South Africa also received help from China as they received small-scale generation equipment worth R167 million from the Asian country.