Source: Jamie McKane, MYBROADBAND, 22 March 2021, photo credit: Dreamlands Design
Eskom has provided a detailed explanation of how its low energy availability will result in an increased risk of load-shedding this year.
A recent report published by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) found that Eskom’s low Energy Availability Factor (EAF) was a driving force for the record-breaking load-shedding last year.
“Eskom fleet EAF is on a declining trend and drove load-shedding events in 2020,” the CSIR noted.
EAF measures plant availability including planned maintenance, unplanned breakdowns, and energy losses not under plant management control.
The statistics reveal that load-shedding occurred for 859 hours of 2020 (9.8%) despite a reduction in demand during the national COVID-19 lockdown.
This is bad news for 2021, as Eskom’s EAF has continued to drop into 2021, which will likely result in increased load-shedding until this improves.
According to Eskom’s latest weekly generation availability report, the average EAF for the year to date is only 58.55%.
In response to questions from MyBroadband regarding the effect of its declining EAF on load-shedding, the power utility said that lower EAF figures increase the risk of load-shedding.
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The South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO) coordinates industry interventions and collaboratively manages risks in the value chain to enable the sustainability and profitability of pork producers in South Africa.
