Johannesburg - Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the demand for electricity was expected to surge with the cold front hitting Gauteng.
This was shared while the SA Weather Service announced that residents should brace for freezing temperatures.
Ramokgopa described the cold front as worrying when briefing the media on progress made on the implementation of the Energy Action Plan.
He said it could also lead to higher stages of load shedding.
“There’s a cold front coming in Gauteng. It’s something that is worrying. We are expecting that demand is going to surge,” said Ramokgopa.
While the country fluctuates back and forth with power cuts, Ramokgopa assured citizens that Eskom is working hard to ensure the country does not go beyond Stage 4.
“On outage slips, this is one area where we are seeing significant improvement. It almost halved from 3 476 megawatts. We are at 1 843MW. This is a function of planning and management. It has received extended attention from various station managers. This is one area in which I am confident that we will continue to see major strides going into the future.”
Explaining the action plan, he said the work starts now to be connected by 2026 to ensure there is additional capacity.
“We are talking about 25 projects that can unleash about 13 gigawatts of electricity into the grid. The work starts now to be connected by 2026 to ensure there is additional capacity. We need to ensure we expedite the projects and bring them quicker online to expand grid capacity.
“These are the twin challenges (generation and transmission) that we are facing at the moment, and we must resolve them to address load shedding. Of course, the issue of distribution must receive attention.”
In addition, it was revealed that Eskom has identified 22 projects that can provide 24 gigawatts by 2033.
The concentration of these projects is in the Western Cape, Northern Cape and Eastern Cape, as the coastal areas have the highest wind speeds.
The Star