NATIONAL NEWS - In an apparent effort to take the lead in ending the increasing and economically devastating load shedding, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter and board chair Professor Malegapuru Makgoba have invited local and international energy experts to an “electricity crisis roundtable” later this month.
They will present a proposal developed internally and approved by the board last month at this, the first in a series of events that will also include engagement with intensive users and funders.
The engagements, which Eskom has formally notified the Presidency and several government departments of, will seek input regarding the proposal, which will be consolidated into a final proposal to be shared with the relevant ministers and made public during August.
This comes against the backdrop of ever-increasing load shedding, although South Africans had some relief with no load shedding instituted over the past week.
Latest data
Eskom’s latest data shows that more than 30% of its generation capacity has been offline due to unplanned outages for the last four weeks.
The average generation fleet availability factor so far this calendar year is only 59%, compared to 61.79% in 2021.
