{"id":538583,"date":"2024-05-26T18:02:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T16:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=538583"},"modified":"2024-05-26T18:03:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T16:03:24","slug":"eskom-miracle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/energy\/538583-eskom-miracle.html","title":{"rendered":"Eskom miracle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eskom has drastically improved its energy availability factor, helped by lower breakdowns, helping it suspend load-shedding for two months.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s last day of load-shedding was on 26 March 2024. The 60-day stretch is the longest power-cut-free period since 2021.<\/p>\n

The load-shedding reprieve was so unexpected that many South Africans speculated that it was an election ploy.<\/p>\n

Even former Eskom CEO Andr\u00e9 de Ruyter said the lights were on because the power utility was burning billions in diesel to power its open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the lights are on, well done. However, they are on because we are pouring money into diesel at a rate of knots,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Considering the near-permanent load-shedding over the last year, it is understandable that South Africans were sceptical.<\/p>\n

However, Eskom chairman Mteto Nyati dismissed notions that anything nefarious was behind the utility providing uninterrupted power.<\/p>\n

Nyati said the load-shedding reprieve was a result of Eskom\u2019s improved performance, which was due to a plan approved and implemented in March 2023.<\/p>\n

The plan focused on accelerating and executing planned maintenance in partnership with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).<\/p>\n

The OEMs had expertise in the equipment used at Eskom\u2019s power plants, which helped ensure better performance following maintenance.<\/p>\n

Taking generators offline for maintenance means Eskom had to burn diesel to power its OCGTs to compensate for the lost generation capacity.<\/p>\n

Nyati said it was a difficult time for Eskom. However, the improved plant performance is now starting to show results.<\/p>\n

All the important metrics, such as unplanned outages, the energy availability factor, and generation availability, are trending upward.<\/p>\n

The Eskom board said it is confident that the permanent end of load-shedding is near, with the utility\u2019s performance stabilising and gradually improving.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is important is that our people at Eskom have done what many people thought they could not do,\u201d Nyati said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people thought this was a dead horse, and this horse now appears to be running.\u201d<\/p>\n

MyBroadband examined each component of Eskom\u2019s performance. It shows that Nyati\u2019s claims are accurate and dispels speculation that it is an election ploy.<\/p>\n

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Eskom chairman Mteto Nyati<\/p><\/div>\n

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Maintenance<\/h2>\n

Between January and March this year, Eskom implemented significantly more maintenance on its power plants than over the same periods since 2021.<\/p>\n

This is seen in Eskom\u2019s planned capacity loss factor (PCLF), which shows how much maintenance it is doing.<\/p>\n

As expected, the planned maintenance started to decline as the country entered winter. This is by design.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Unplanned outages<\/h2>\n

Unplanned outages, also known as unplanned capacity loss factor (UCLF), have been trending downward in 2024.<\/p>\n

UCLF refers to breakdowns and power losses due to unforeseen circumstances. The lower the UCLF, the better.<\/p>\n

Eskom\u2019s unplanned outages increased over the past few years, which showed that power stations experienced more breakdowns.<\/p>\n

In 2024 year-to-date, Eskom\u2019s unplanned outages reached the lowest level since 2021.<\/p>\n

This shows Eskom\u2019s planned maintenance has improved the performance of its power station fleet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Energy availability<\/h2>\n

Eskom\u2019s energy availability shows the power utility\u2019s total installed capacity minus all unavailability, like maintenance outages and unplanned outages.<\/p>\n

It is similar to the energy availability factor and measures the total electricity that Eskom has available to supply.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Eskom maintained an upward trend for its energy availability. It is now the highest in four years.<\/p>\n

The combination of normalised maintenance levels and decreasing unplanned outages has enabled Eskom to have more energy available to be supplied.<\/p>\n

Higher maintenance at the beginning of the year may have been the cause for less breadowns and more energy being available to the public.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Demand<\/h2>\n

Electricity demand has declined significantly in 2024 because of increased solar PV installations at households and businesses.<\/p>\n

The lower electricity demand has helped Eskom to limit or reduce load-shedding in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

This is one aspect that Eskom has little control over. However, demand directly impacts load-shedding.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eskom has achieved something which many South Africans thought was impossible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":535159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[181,35,8487,3192],"class_list":["post-538583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-eskom","tag-headline","tag-load-shedding","tag-mteto-nyati"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538583"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":538617,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538583\/revisions\/538617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}