President Cyril Ramaphosa has said although loadshedding will not be resolved overnight, Eskom and the government are making ”significant progress” in areas aimed at reducing and eventually removing it altogether.
“Today, we are releasing a detailed report outlining the work done to improve the performance of Eskom’s power stations, accelerate the building of new generation capacity and drive regulatory reforms to transform the electricity sector.
”The winter months will soon be coming to an end. Although loadshedding has continued, as was anticipated, we have managed to avert a worst-case scenario by stabilising the performance of Eskom’s power stations and reducing demand,” said the president in a statement on Monday.
He explained that the power utility is hard at work to address challenges at power stations.
“Eskom’s generation fleet continues to show sustained improvement. Unplanned losses have been reduced to less than 16 000MW in the last two months, down from more than 18 000MW. Planned maintenance has been reduced during winter, with Eskom having undertaken significant maintenance in the months preceding winter.
”Looking ahead, damaged units at the Kusile and Medupi power stations are being returned to service expeditiously. In combination, these units represent more than 3 000MW of capacity.
”The Eskom debt relief package announced by the Minister of Finance will enable necessary investment in maintenance and expansion of the transmission network,” he said.
Ramaphosa further acknowledged that although loadshedding remains a challenge, gains are being made in addressing it.
”We have maintained that loadshedding will not be resolved overnight, but we are making clear progress towards reducing it and eventually bringing it to an end.
”Let us maintain this momentum, and let us all play our part, wherever we can, as we lay the groundwork for an energy-secure future,” added the president.
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