Electricity minister reveals his plan for stopping load-shedding

South Africa’s Minister of Electricity, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has outlined his proposals for combatting load-shedding through interventions at Eskom’s power stations.

During a media briefing on Thursday, 6 April 2023, Ramokgopa shared some of his observations on his visits to Eskom’s eighteen power stations across the country between 20 March and 31 March 2023.

The gist of Ramokgopa’s message was that government needed to seriously consider spending more on various coal power station technologies to improve performance and keep old coal power stations online for longer.

Ramokgopa reiterated that calculations showed that about 6,000MW of additional capacity was needed to plug the gap between supply and demand during the summer months. That could grow to as much as 10,000MW during the winter period.

He said that over 5,000MW could be brought back onto the grid merely by fixing unplanned breakdowns, as opposed to expanding capacity.

In addition, he outlined the potential untapped capacity at various power stations that could be returned in the short term — including getting 1,000MW back at Kendal Power Station.

Ramokgopa said the plant’s major problem was that it had to be operated well below its potential to keep emissions within approved environmental parameters.

“Kendal is meant to give us about 4,116MW, and the energy availability factor is sitting at 46.75%,” Ramokgopa said.

“Because they are having great difficulty in meeting their emissions level, they have to slow down [generation].”

Ramokgopa said a further 1,000MW was available if the station could run at its maximum capacity.

“There is a need for us to invest in the technology that can help us to ensure we run this unit without necessarily having to slow them down and without undermining our licencing requirements from an emissions point of view,” he said.

That left three options — to keep running the units as is and preserve the environment, to increase output and infringe on environmental requirements, or apply to the authority to get exemptions to environmental requirements but invest in emissions-curbing technology over time.

Eskom needs more money

Ramokgopa repeatedly emphasised that Eskom will require money to fix many of its generating problems and reduce load-shedding.

“You need to think outside the Eskom balance sheet. You need to think about the broader implications on the South African economy,” said Ramokgopa.

“The preoccupation can’t just be the Eskom balance sheet. You need to think about what is the cost to the South African economy.”

“The conversation can’t be constricted to Eskom’s balance sheet, the conversation must be expanded to what is in the best interests of the sovereign,” Ramokgopa said.

“Compute what is the cost to the South African economy of one stage of load-shedding, you will arrive at a number. You will see that number justifies us making these investments going into the future.”

Ramokgopa said he would provide a more detailed presentation to President Ramaphosa’s cabinet explaining the options available to address challenges at Eskom’s power stations.

The table below summarises how much capacity Ramokgopa believes could be brought back online in the short term, if the necessary investments were made and certain exemptions were granted to Eskom.

The minister also strongly supported keeping old coal-fired power stations running instead of decommissioning them.

He explained that two stations first commissioned around the same time — Tutuka and Lethabo — had vastly different energy availability factors (EAFs) of roughly 26% and 74%.

He believed this showed old stations still had great potential, in contrast to the arguments made by Eskom that its power stations had become too old to perform optimally.

“There is no correlation between the EAF and age. It is important that we dispel that myth,” Ramokgopa said. “It is a function of our ability to maintain planned maintenance and invest in the coal quality.”

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