'Reforms will accelerate the end of load-shedding': Eskom welcomes measures to resolve electricity crisis

Eskom has welcomed the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on measures to resolve the electricity crisis and says it is in full support of these.

Ramaphosa on Monday unveiled the government's plan to “fix Eskom and improve its existing fleet of power stations”.  

He listed a number of proposals, including Eskom increasing its budget for maintenance and new green energy projects. 

“These reforms will go a long way towards easing the power generation constraints the country has been grappling with for about 14 years. The reforms will accelerate the end of load-shedding and expand and grow the electricity generation industry in SA through structural changes.

“Particularly pleasing is that the government has made these moves to empower Eskom to speedily acquire additional generation capacity from existing independent power producer (IPP) with excess capacity, to acquire spares and equipment from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the resources to increase funding of the maintenance budget,” said the power utility.

Ramaphosa announced the government will remove the licensing threshold for embedded power generation.

Eskom said it is engaged in efforts with interested stakeholders to fill the skills gap. It has reached out to the National Society of Black Engineers to ascertain if members are interested in helping Eskom bolster its skills.

“Eskom is placing emphasis on recovering its energy availability factor (EAF) at especially its coal plants, where performance has been disappointing.”

The proposals will enable Eskom to intensify maintenance to improve the EAF.

“Eskom’s efforts to acquire battery energy storage systems (BESS) are already at an advanced stage, with further tranches of BESS roll-out to follow imminently. Furthermore, as the president announced, Eskom has already released land with grid connections for long-term leases by independent power producers, with more to follow in the near future.”

Reforms removing limits to private sector investment in electricity generation capacity will help unlock capital and create jobs during construction of projects, while helping to lower the cost of electricity in the long term.

“Eskom has significantly shortened the time required for IPPs to obtain cost estimate letters and budget quotes for grid access and is committed to optimising this process even further.

“Eskom looks forward to playing its part in the rapid and effective implementation of the president’s plan and will partner with government, regulators, labour and the private sector to ensure that we bring an end to load-shedding as soon as we can.”

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