Loadshedding.com
During the Freedom Day celebrations, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised that his administration’s new power generation will enable the country to get out of load shedding. Businesses and households across the country have been affected by the energy crisis, and the government is making significant efforts to address it.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa recently announced that some of the measures taken in response to the power crisis include the rollout of bid windows over the coming months. The government would also announce a mega window of 15,000 MW of renewable energy to ramp up efforts to end power cuts. Kusile Power Station expects to receive 2,100 MW by December with some of the damaged units returned to service.
Ramokgopa also wished to see poorly performing plants increase their energy availability factor (EAF). Eskom has said that it could mitigate load shedding when it is possible to reach 65% of the EAF.
Ramaphosa emphasized wanting to end load shedding as soon as possible. When South African businesses and households are without electricity for several hours in the day, freedom from the government cannot be meaningful.
The president asserted using every means available to restore Eskom’s power stations, and construct new generating capacity to ensure a stable, reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy system. There is optimism that the impact of the significant investment in new power generation will soon be felt, with load shedding becoming a thing of the past.
Ramaphosa indicated the need to reduce unemployment in the country, ensuring that millions of people are not sitting at home without jobs. The government has pushed for investment drives with the desired outcome of raising R2 trillion in the economy.
Despite the promising developments, the latest World Bank report indicates that the South African economy may only grow by less than 1%. Crime rates in the country have also increased significantly in recent years. While the drive for positive change remains strong, the government needs to act immediately on effective measures that translate into improvement in the people’s lives.
Load Shedding Reporter 
