The extended relief in load-shedding in the past two weeks is not because of the improved performance of Eskom’s generating fleet but due to a drop in demand for the power utility’s electricity.
They have alleged the ANC wants to cast itself in a favourable light by being able to say its turnaround strategy for Eskom is working ahead of the national and provincial elections in May. “Thus, the availability of the Eskom fleet this year is similar to that of the same period last year.”, the average of Eskom’s weekly energy availability factor for the first 13 weeks of 2024 was substantially lower than in previous years, as shown in the table below.Data from EskomSePush shows that during the same period in 2023, Eskom was rotating between stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, and stage 4 load-shedding, with no breaks in the power cuts until 8 April 2023.
The pipeline of big renewable energy and battery energy storage plants is now coming to the grid, and this trend is accelerating.“This is resulting in a significant reduction in the frequency and intensity of load-shedding this year compared to the same period last year,” Yelland said.