State-owned power utility Eskom, which is ramping up the maintenance of its unreliable and unpredictable coal power stations, anticipates that there will be a ‘step change’ in the performance of the fleet from April 2021, but has also warned that the risk of load-shedding will persist until at least September and will not be fully eliminated until significant new generation capacity is introduced. In fact, CEO Andre de Ruyter said during a ‘State of the System’ briefing on Thursday that far more capacity than the 11.8 GW of new non-Eskom generation earmarked for procurement by government over the coming three years would be needed to stabilise supply and create the platform for future economic growth.
