{"id":613223,"date":"2025-10-07T07:25:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T05:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=613223"},"modified":"2025-10-07T07:30:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T05:30:14","slug":"andre-de-ruyter-explains-why-there-is-no-load-shedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/energy\/613223-andre-de-ruyter-explains-why-there-is-no-load-shedding.html","title":{"rendered":"Andr\u00e9 de Ruyter explains why there is no load-shedding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Eskom CEO Andr\u00e9 de Ruyter says load-shedding has been suspended because three factors are working together to boost the power utility\u2019s generating output and reduce demand on the grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to renowned economist Dawie Roodt on KykNet\u2019s onbytSAKE<\/em> programme, De Ruyter reiterated many of the points he made<\/a> at the September BizNews Investment Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Ruyter explained<\/a> that a largely unacknowledged contributor to ending load-shedding was the massive amounts of rooftop solar and battery backups private individuals and businesses have deployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, large generating units at several different power stations have come online, and Eskom has been allowed to spend much more money on diesel generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a project to replace the steam generators at Koeberg 1 and 2. That\u2019s two times 920 megawatts (MW). That project is essentially complete and is delivering to the grid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Ruyter said that the Koeberg long-term operation life extension project was initiated before his time, so he would not take credit for it. It was just a matter of timing, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted that both units of the Koeberg nuclear power station have not been online simultaneously during this load-shedding-free period in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early September, Eskom said that Koeberg Unit 1 has reached a critical stage in its return to service, with refuelling underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only once that is completed will the unit come back online and contribute its 930MW back to the national grid, reinforcing energy supply for the summer period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koeberg\u2019s Unit 2 generator must be shut down again before its nuclear operating licence expires in November 2025. During the shutdown, it will undergo post-replacement testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Ruyter was not asked about the bungling of Koeberg\u2019s initial shutdown during his time at Eskom, which has resulted in an adverse court ruling against the power utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the issues was that Eskom had not constructed a shed on the premises where the steam generators could be stored by deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Court ordered Eskom to pay nearly R1 billion<\/a> to French nuclear contractor Framatome in compensation for its role in delaying the Koeberg long-term maintenance project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the timing of the Koeberg life extension project, De Ruyter highlighted the problem at Kusile units 1, 2, and 3, which has since been resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEskom had issues where the flue gas desulphurisation unit collapsed. Those units were put out of commission. Three times 800 megawatts (2.4GW) came back and are now contributing to the grid,\u201d De Ruyter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKusile 5 and 6 reached beneficial operation. They are now connected to the grid and contributing. Medupi 4, which exploded spectacularly, that was put back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Ruyter said returning these units to service was not easy. \u201cSo credit to the hardworking men and women of Eskom for continuing to fight quite a tough fight to get these units back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unacknowledged impact of private solar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Solar panels installed at Spar Ladybrand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While adding several large coal and nuclear generating units was part of the equation, De Ruyter said the impact of private solar generation is overlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is often omitted is the fact that the private sector, in a period of 18 months, added 6.1 gigawatts. That\u2019s about the size of one-and-a-half Medupis, which took 15 years to build,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can see that every time it\u2019s overcast and cloudy in Gauteng, the system starts to wobble. It\u2019s because of that contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Ruyter said this showed that the private sector solves problems. He said free market reforms could unleash the private sector in South Africa, including in electricity generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third factor that has helped end load-shedding is that Eskom has been allowed to spend much more on diesel than in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has allowed the utility to run its open-cycle gas turbine power stations much more frequently, despite their cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was at Eskom, we were allowed to burn about R5 billion of diesel a year, which is a lot, and I felt bad for it because it\u2019s very, very expensive electricity that we generate,\u201d De Ruyter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe latest budget is sitting in the region of about R23\u2013R24 billion. That\u2019s not affordable. It costs about R6\/kWh to generate electricity from diesel. So if you\u2019ve got unlimited money to throw at diesel, then problems magically go away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Eskom boss Andr\u00e9 de Ruyter recently answered questions from renowned economist Dawie Roodt on KykNet\u2019s onbytSAKE programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":490285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995],"tags":[101448,11177,181,16570,8487],"class_list":["post-613223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-andre-de-ruyter-2","tag-dawie-roodt","tag-eskom","tag-kyknet","tag-load-shedding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613223"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613223"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":613224,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613223\/revisions\/613224"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}