Despite South Africans’ many humorous social media posts and fake news that load-shedding would be reimplemented the day after the elections, load-shedding remains suspended until further notice.

According to Eskom, load-shedding has been suspended for 65 consecutive days due to ongoing structural improvement in the reliability of the generation fleet.

The last time South Africa experienced such an extended suspension of load-shedding was between December 5, 2021, and February 2, 2022, the power utility said in a media statement last night.

“Eskom’s Generation Operational Recovery Plan, initiated in March 2023, along with extensive planned maintenance, continue to deliver the improved reliability and availability of the generation fleet.”

Key performance highlights

Reduction in unplanned outages:

• The Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor (UCLF) decreased to 28.37% from April 1 to May 30, a reduction from 35.5% recorded in the same period last year.
• The reduction in UCLF represents a 7.5% improvement in the current financial year compared with the same period in the previous year.

Planned Maintenance:

Planned maintenance of 4 121MW is consistent with Eskom’s maintenance plans for winter.

Sustained energy availability factor improvement:

• From April 1 to May 30, the sustained energy availability factor (EAF) increased to 61%. This is an 8.3% improvement compared with the same period last year when the EAF was 52.7%.
• The weekly EAF has moved from 57% to 65% during the same period.
• EAF improvement is primarily due to a drop in unplanned outages of generation units, which averaged 12 500MW in May.

Strategic utilisation of open-cycle gas turbines:

• The use of open-cycle gas turbines (OCGT) continues to be significantly lower, compared with the same period in the past two years.
• From April 1 to May 30, Eskom spent R1.52b on OCGTs, producing 221.02GWh. This is about 79% less than the same period last year, when R7.1b was spent to produce 1 159.8GWh.
• The OCGT load factor for May continues to be less, at 2.18%, compared with last May at 28.05%.

Winter outlook maintained

The winter outlook published by Eskom on April 26 remains in force.

“Our generation performance continues to surpass the winter forecast for this year.

“The winter forecast anticipated a likely scenario of unplanned outages at 15 500MW and load-shedding limited to stage 2.”

Current unplanned outages average at 12 500MW, which is 3000MW less than anticipated.

By Monday, a 3 500MW of generating capacity is due to be returned to service.

Eskom will provide an update on June 7 or communicate significant changes should they occur.