'Winter plan remains valid despite load-shedding challenges': Kgosientsho Ramokgopa
'During this winter we're going to have the benefit of all of the Koeberg units, at least by July. We synchronised Kusile unit 6 to the grid on March 26, so that's additional capacity we have on the grid, about 800MW.'
However, Ramokgopa acknowledged that despite these structural improvements, unplanned maintenance setbacks have affected the ability to meet energy demands, necessitating load-shedding.
The primary issue lies in 'outage slips', where units scheduled to return to service after maintenance failed to do so on time, amounting to a shortfall of 3,100MW.
Ramokgopa attributed the delays to challenges with third-party contractors and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
'Those units have not come back as a result of a multiplicity of reasons. Some of them had to do with the third-party players, the contractors, the OEMs, that have not delivered,' he said.
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