Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa warned that higher stages of load-shedding would be experienced during winter.
espite measures taken since the declaration of the national state of disaster on electricity in February, to mitigate the impact of severe load-shedding, the worst is yet to come.who warned that higher stages of load-shedding would be experienced during winter.
He stressed that some very difficult decisions would need to be made going into the winter period, as well as in the longer term. These included refurbishing the coal-fired power stations to stabilise the grid. The investment would be recovered in terms of higher economic growth, job creation and higher tax revenues, Ramokgopa said.“The first option — ramp up generation; the second option — bring down demand; the third option, our preferred option, is that you do both – you ramp up generation and reduce demand, but as you reduce demand, you don’t undermine the ability of households to meet their daily needs and you don’t undermine the ability of commerce and business to operate.
“This is a determination made in summer conditions. On average, Eskom can guarantee us about 27 000MW, and we know that peak demand in summer is about 32 000MW.” In its report it announced that the utility would experience shortages of more than two 000MW between April this year and March next year. This meant permanent stage two would continue until next year.Speaking to the media during a visit to Cape Town’s Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in March, Ramokgopa said coal-powered fire stations would need to up their performance during the winter season because there would be delays in one of its units returning to service.
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