The state utility said that it has saved the country R13.7 billion in diesel costs to power its open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) when compared to last year.
Eskom said that this saving is directly related to the fact that load shedding has been suspended for over seven months.
The country has had only 83 days of load shedding in 2024.
The last time South Africans experienced load shedding was on March 26, 2024.
Eskom noted that investments in the Generation Recovery Plan have been instrumental in maintaining a stable power supply across South Africa.
“On Monday, October 28, 2024, Eskom achieved a significant milestone in operational efficiency, moving closer to its goal of a 70% Energy Availability Factor (EAF) by the end of March 2025,” the utility said.
“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 7,299MW. The last time Eskom reached a comparable UCLF milestone was four years ago,” it added.
Eskom said that it has also achieved an average EAF of 65% over the last week and 63.1% year-to-date.
The top-performing stations were Grootvlei, Camden, Medupi, and Lethabo and these power stations had a 70% EAF.
Fire at Kriel Power Station
A fire that broke out in at Kriel Power Station’s Unit 6 on Sunday evening may place SA’s EAF is disarray.
Videos on the social media site, X (formerly Twitter) showed huge smoke clouds and bursts of fire at the station, with workers rushing to attend to the matter.
WATCH:
Videos of Kriel Power Station (Unit 6) today around 17:30 pic.twitter.com/sxJdkKQGT2
— Engineer Matšhela Koko, MBL (@koko_matshela) November 3, 2024
At this stage, there has been no information on how the fire started, if there were casualties or what impact this fire will have on South Africa’s energy capacity.
IOL Business has reached out to Eskom to get more information on the disaster and what impact it will have on future load shedding.
IOL BUSINESS