Govt Committed to 2030 Plan As Stage 3 Load Shedding Disrupts South Africans

Eskom is currently implementing stage 3 load shedding, as there have been further breakdowns at Kusile, Matla and Tutuka power stations.

The Stage 3 Loadshedding is due to continue until 10pm after which it will revert to Stage 2, said Eskom.

The power utility noted a slight improvement in generation performance on Wednesday but said load-shedding was being implemented because of further breakdowns at its power stations.

“This is in order to continue replenishing the emergency generation reserves, which have been depleted. These emergency reserves are required to respond to emergencies in order to maintain the stability of the national grid,” Eskom said.

Breakdowns currently total 13 995MW of capacity, while planned maintenance is 1 273MW of capacity.

Eskom said these constraints will continue for the foreseeable future, and trotted out its usual apology and request for South Africans to reduce their use of electricity.

Government committed to implementing IRP 2030 amid load shedding

The SA Cabinet has acknowledged the frustration of South Africans as the country continues to experience these power outages.

Addressing media on Thursday following Cabinet’s meeting this week, acting Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said the outages were due to failures in Eskom’s infrastructure electricity networks.

South Africans have, since last Monday, been contending with load shedding.

She said Cabinet remained committed to the implementation of the Integrated Resource Plan 2030, which is based on a diversified energy mix that will reduce reliance on a single or a few primary energy sources.

“The DMRE [Department of Mineral Resources and Energy] has also opened bid window five of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme to procure 2 600 megawatts of wind and solar power to support the National Grid.”

The Minister said electricity regulation reforms have also enabled municipalities with the capacity to purchase their own power from other alternative power producers.

“This will alleviate pressure from the Eskom power grid.” – SAnews.gov.za