Mozambique will supply electricity-starved South Africa with 100 megawatts of power immediately and an additional 600 megawatts in six months’ time, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said.
A further 1,000 megawatts will be supplied in the long-term, he said at a briefing.
Eskom suspends rolling power cuts as generation units return to service (June 11, 2:47 p.m.)
South Africa’s state-owned power utility suspended rolling power cuts until 4 p.m. on Monday after three generation units returned to service. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., will then cut 3,000 megawatts of power from the grid from 4 p.m. until 12 a.m. Monday through Wednesday, it said in a statement on Twitter.
Eskom Chairman Says Utility’s Better Performance Not a Fluke (June 9, 5:44 p.m.)
Eskom Chairman Mpho Makwana said the recent improvements in electricity generation are not a fluke. The utility’s better performance was partly due to a decision to scrap the post of chief operating officer and give individual plant managers more direct access to senior executives which had improved morale, he said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Johannesburg offices.
Storms Boost Wind Generation (June 9, 3:44 p.m.)
A series of winter storms helped reduce electricity blackouts over the past week, allowing renewable-energy plants at the coast to boost their supply to the grid, according to an Eskom official.
There have been “great wind-resources generation coming through in the last week,” Eric Shunmagum, a generation executive at the utility, told reporters in the capital, Pretoria. “With cold fronts coming through, we see better wind resources.”
The improved availability of electricity has also been driven by higher tariffs that have cut demand, improved maintenance at power plants, and increased diesel supply at the open gas cycle turbines that are used for emergency supply during periods of high demand, he said.
South African Presidency Maps Out Path to End Blackouts (June 9, 12:57 p.m.)
South Africa will focus on fixing its dilapidated coal-fired power plants and the longer-term roll-out of at least 50 gigawatts of private renewable energy projects by the end of the decade to tackle crippling blackouts, according to senior officials in the nation’s presidency. Other plans include:
- Unlocking new grid capacity with 25 transmission projects.
- Appointing an independent board for the transmission unit by end of June.
- Investing 72 billion over three years to upgrade the transmission system.
Read More: South African Presidency Maps Out Path to End Blackouts
