South Africa’s new plan for China generator donation

The generators and other backup power products donated to South Africa by China are not exclusively for load-shedding and will provide uninterrupted power at critical public buildings, schools, and clinics in the country.

Instead, and in light of the extended load-shedding suspension in South Africa, the equipment will be used to keep the lights on during load reduction and when unforeseen circumstances, such as disruptive storms, cut power to an area.

Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientsho took delivery of the second consignment of energy equipment from China in late August 2024, and the third consignment is expected to arrive soon.

The equipment is being distributed to at least 500 public facilities.

The Department of Electricity and Energy says the facilities, as well as the government and provincial departments that manage them, are responsible for running and maintaining the equipment.

It also said it allocated one of the generators donated by China to the Newton Pre-Vocational School in Pietermaritzburg. The school had received two smaller generators at an earlier stage.

Speaking at a briefing regarding the delivery of the second consignment, Ramokgopa explained that the equipment isn’t intended as load-shedding backup but rather to ensure an uninterrupted power supply at public facilities.

“This equipment is for uninterrupted power supply. There could be issues like load reduction. There could be a storm like we have seen in Gqeberha,”

“All we wanted to do is make sure that the lights are on and that the economy is going.”

While the first consignment only included various generators, the second comprised a combination of generators and solar power equipment.

Ramokgopa said it is important to include solar power equipment as the diesel costs associated with running generators can become expensive.

“The other generators use diesel while these use solar panels, which is important for our own costs,” he said.

Ramokgopa, who was Minister of Electricity in the Presidency at the time, revealed that his department had allocated the first consignment of 450 gasoline generators in February 2024 after securing the consignment in November last year.

The generators were allocated as follows:

• 306 generators for the National Department of Health to be distributed to clinics in various provinces
• 44 generators for public facilities in KwaZulu-Natal
• 50 generators for disaster relief in KwaZulu-Natal
• 50 generators for schools in Gauteng

“The generators will be used as backup to alleviate the impacts of load-shedding in the delivery of services in clinics, schools, and courts,” the minister said when receiving the first consignment.

Responding to parliamentary questions regarding the generator donation, Ramokgopa said the respective facilities that receive the equipment requested to be responsible for their installation, operation, security, and maintenance.

“The individual facilities are responsible for the operational budget of the generators,” he added.

Some members of the public raised concerns after the minister posted pictures of the first consignment on X, as the delivery lacked many of the larger capacity generators he had previously mentioned.

However, the Ramokgopa explained to MyBroadband that the larger units would come in the second and third consignments.

“The second shipment, which is estimated to arrive at the end of March 2024, will include 39 diesel generators (230v/400); 35 (100KW/h) photovoltaic energy storage power supply systems, and 25 (200KW/h) photovoltaic energy storage power supply systems,” he said.

He added that the third consignment would include five power supply vehicles mounted with 600-800kVA generators, allowing for mobile backup power systems.

Ramokgopa secured the donations after signing a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with eight Chinese entities in August 2023. They will benefit more than 500 public facilities.

“Yesterday, we exchanged letters in relation to the technical equipment that will be assisting us to provide sustainable electricity to some of the major public installations like clinics, hospitals and police stations,” said Ramokgopa.

“It means that over 500 public facilities…are now going to have access to uninterrupted alternative power supply and thank you to the Chinese for the generous contribution.”