Weather and winter tariff on large users helping to moderate electricity demand

Eskom is expecting demand for the rest of South Africa’s winter months to remain below levels initially assumed when the utility finalised its base case for the high-demand season (see graphic above), while it is also beginning to report improved generation performance at some of its coal stations. When Eskom unveiled its winter outlook on May 18, it warned that it might be forced to resort to Stage 8 loadshedding (representing 16 hours of cuts in a 32-hour cycle) should it fail to cap coal plant breakdowns to below 15 000 MW and should demand spike on the back of colder temperatures, particularly in Gauteng.
/by

Eskom welcomes DFFE’s decision to grant postponement of Kusile minimum emission standards

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s (DFFE’s) National Air Quality Officer (NAQO) has granted State-owned power utility Eskom a postponement to meet minimum emission standards (MES) at the Kusile power station, in Mpumalanga, from June 5 this year to March 31, 2025.

This postponement is subject to certain strict conditions. 

The postponement application was necessitated by the failure of Kusile’s west stack on October 23 last year. The failure limited the power station’s ability to operate three commissioned generating units (Units 1,2, and 3).

/by

Renewables growth did not dent fossil fuel dominance in 2022, report says

Global energy demand rose 1% last year and record renewables growth did nothing to shift the dominance of fossil fuels, which still accounted for 82% of supply, the industry’s Statistical Review of World Energy report said on Monday. Last year was marked by turmoil in the energy markets after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which helped to boost gas and coal prices to record levels in Europe and Asia.
/by