Wet coal aside, Eskom’s immediate outlook for its available generation capacity is much improved from a month ago. However, the longer-term outlook does not look encouraging.
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Load shedding is back, this time in the middle of the week, as Eskom struggles with supply problems. The power interruptions are set to start at 10pm on Tuesday and will run until 5am on Wednesday.
City Power, Johannesburg’s municipal electricity supplier, has moved to a two-hour load-shedding schedule and announced changes to its load-shedding blocks – both implemented with immediate effect.
Eskom will implement stage-2 load shedding from midday on Friday, with the cuts expected to continue all weekend, as heavy rains impact the utility’s ability to burn coal.
Harith General Partners, which funds infrastructure development across Africa, is pushing ahead with plans to build the first gas-fired power plants in South Africa’s industrial hub of Gauteng.
Eskom hopes its proposed retail tariffs for 2021 will help solve a looming problem triggered by increased solar generation across the country.
South Africa plans to launch three procurement rounds for 6.8GW of renewable energy over the next year, as well as a combined 5GWW of new coal, gas and storage, a presentation by the ANC showed.
The biggest labour group at Eskom blamed “poor leadership” for ongoing nationwide power cuts, a discordant sign as the utility embarks on a plan to become profitable again.
Eskom has firmed up a plan to implement load shedding in Johannesburg in two-hour blocks, instead of the current four-hour interruptions, with effect from 19 January.
Eskom’s official three-month outlook for demand and generating capacity shows a high likelihood of load shedding every single week until mid-April. But there is reason for encouragement.