President Cyril Ramaphosa has lauded the success of South Africa’s Energy Action Plan (EAP), which has resulted in 48 consecutive days of uninterrupted power supply across the country.
Speaking on the milestone achievement, President Ramaphosa expressed his satisfaction with the progress made under the EAP, attributing it to a step in the right direction. “As of today, the country has had no load shedding for over a month and a half. This development shows that the Energy Action Plan we announced in 2022 is working,” stated the President during a recent address.
While acknowledging the significant progress, President Ramaphosa remained cautiously optimistic about the future of load shedding in the nation. “It is too early to say that load shedding has been brought to an end, however, the sustained improvement in the performance of Eskom’s power stations as well as the new generation capacity we have added to our energy system gives us hope that the end of load shedding is in sight,” he added.
The President highlighted the importance of Eskom’s enhanced focus on infrastructure maintenance and unit servicing, which has led to positive outcomes. “A renewed focus by Eskom on maintenance and the return to service of several units is now showing results,” President Ramaphosa noted. “Losses due to unplanned outages have reduced by nine percent between April 2023 and March 2024, adding the equivalent of 4400MW of capacity to our national grid.”
Addressing the media at the Kusile Power station in Mpumalanga, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopha emphasized the significance of the achievement. “Eskom has achieved an energy availability factor of 70.78% on Monday,” stated Minister Ramokgopha. “This milestone was last accomplished in August 2021.”
Minister Ramokgopha attributed the success to the dedication and competence of the workforce at Eskom, praising their efforts in achieving and surpassing the 70% energy availability mark. “This achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the competent men and women at the power utility,” he concluded.
The nation’s progress towards ensuring a reliable and consistent power supply marks a significant milestone in South Africa’s energy sector and underscores the effectiveness of collaborative efforts between government and utility stakeholders.
Source Zimoja
