Maintenance progress alone insufficient to eliminate load-shedding risk amid 4 GW deficit

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter insisted on Monday that, despite a recent return to load-shedding, progress was being made on the utility’s so-called reliability maintenance programme to improve the performance of the coal fleet to the point where the risk of rotational power cuts would be materially reduced by September. He stressed, however, that the load-shedding threat would not be entirely eliminated until the prevailing generation supply shortfall of some 4 000 MW was addressed through large-scale new investments in generation capacity – a shortfall that would expand should the South Africa economy begin growing again.
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30 MW solar plant to be commissioned in Burkina Faso

A new 30 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant is due for construction near the town of Pâ, in Burkina Faso and will supply all the electricity it produces to Burkina Faso’s national power utility – La Société National D’électricité Du Burkina Faso (Sonabel).

Urbasolar was selected as the developer and operator following a competitive tender process run by Sonabel, with construction of the plant scheduled to be completed within 18 months.
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Opinion: Is load-shedding here to stay?

In this opinion piece, South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) GM Barry Bredenkamp writes about steps electricity users can take to reduce demand as load-shedding continues. Since Eskom cannot meet the country’s demand for electricity, load-shedding is likely to be with us for the rest of the year, at least. However, there are steps every electricity user can and should take to decrease demand for electricity and thereby reduce the risk of load shedding.
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Eskom to extend load-shedding to Wednesday

Eskom announced on Sunday that stage 2 load shedding will be extended to 05:00 on Wednesday following the loss of further generation capacity and to replenish emergency generation reserves. The power utility said it regrets having to take this step, but it is due to generation capacity still being severely constrained.
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