Eskom’s average of total unplanned outages over the past seven days has declined to 9.5GW, a significant improvement on the figure of 16GW in the same period last year.

The state-owned electricity utility said it has moved much closer to its goal of achieving an “energy availability factor”, or EAF, by the end of March 2025.

“This achievement is marked by a reduction in unplanned outages, which are measured by the unplanned capacity loss factor (UCLF) and other capacity loss factors (OCLF), to 7.3GW,” the company said in a statement late on Friday.

“The last time Eskom reached a comparable UCLF milestone was four years ago. This achievement follows Eskom’s recent milestone of delivering the longest stretch of uninterrupted power supply in five years, reaching day 206 of load shedding suspension on Saturday, 19 October 2024.”

As of the date of this publication, load shedding has been suspended for 220 consecutive days.

“The reduction in unplanned outages means that more generation capacity is available to meet the country’s electricity demand. Additionally, it provides Eskom with the necessary capacity to conduct more planned maintenance activities, which are crucial for further improving the reliability and stability of the generation fleet,” it said.

EAF

Eskom’s EAF increased to an average of 65% over the past week and 63.1% year to date. It said top-performing stations – including Grootvlei, Camden, Medupi, Lethabo, and peaking facilities – have already achieved over 70% EAF.

“With an available generation capacity of 30.3GW and a peak demand forecast of 26GW for tonight (Friday, 2 November), Eskom remains on track to meet electricity needs. By Monday evening, an additional 4GW is expected to return online, with six units on cold reserve this weekend to manage supply and demand balance.”

Read: IT veteran Len de Villiers named as Eskom CIO

Eskom reiterated that it expects load shedding to remain suspected throughout the summer months owing to the “structural generation improvements”.

“Ongoing planned maintenance is at 6.1GW, aligning with our summer maintenance strategy to further increase the reliability of the stations in preparation for winter 2025 and beyond.”

Although Eskom still makes use of its diesel-burning open-cycle gas turbines at peak demand times, it said its diesel usage remains below the year-to-date budget.

On Friday, the utility also said that South Africa should have enough generation capacity for the next five years, provided the EAF maintains an average of at least 63%. This will support economic growth of up to 2.6%/year, Eskom’s system operator said. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media

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