President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday pledged to end South Africa’s rolling blackouts by including power from private producers into the national grid to make it more efficient.
The president blamed the current loadshedding to lack of maintenance and corruption at the troubled state power producer Eskom, he said in a tweet.
However, a number of changes were being made to move away from total reliance on Eskom – which uses mainly coal to produce electricity – to independent energy producers who use various renewable sources through the renewable energy programme.
The Renewable Independent Power Producer Programme is aimed at bringing additional megawatts (MW) onto the country’s electricity system through private sector investment in wind, biomass and small hydro, among others.
Some generating capacity has already been connected to the grid, with more expected next year, he said, adding that Eskom’s unbundling was on track and would be completed by December this year.
Ramaphosa’s comments came after Eskom board member Busisiwe Mawuso last week blamed his government for the country’s electricity crisis.
“It is difficult and unacceptable for South Africans to endure load-shedding. But we are doing everything in our means to ensure that, like state capture, it (loadshedding) will soon become a thing of the past,” the president tweeted.
The country has experienced varying stages of load shedding over the past week after the power utility’s power stations encountered several breakdowns.
Currently, the power utility has at least 5,353 MW of capacity unavailable due to planned maintenance, with another 14,912 MW of capacity still unavailable due to unplanned breakdowns, Eskom said.
NM/jn/APA