Ramaphosa: Measures to end load shedding will soon bear fruit
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa remains confident the measures taken by government to end load shedding will soon start bearing fruit.
Ramaphosa delivered the opening address at the ANC’s national conference in Johannesburg hours after Eskom ramped up load shedding to stage 6. The ANC’s conference, which will elect new leadership and decide on policy, also comes on the back of the resignation of Eskom CEO André de Ruyter.
De Ruyter, who will remain at the helm of the struggling power producer until the end of March, said a lack of political support was a major contributing factor in his decision to leave Eskom.
Ramaphosa told the 4500 delegates at the conference that the combination of renewable energy being added to the grid, in addition to the plans to improve the performance of Eskom’s existing power plants, will soon bring an end to load shedding.
“We expect more than 9 000 megawatts of new embedded generation capacity in the near future,” he said.
“This is taking place alongside concerted efforts to improve the performance of Eskom’s existing power plants. Whilst we are addressing and attending to the improvement of existing plants the procurement of emergency power is an option that has to be followed up with greater focus.
Ramaphosa added: “Critical maintenance and resources have been prioritised for the six power stations that contribute the most to breakdowns. Eskom is also recruiting skilled personnel, including senior former plant managers and engineers from the private sector.”
Eskom, which was one of the state-owned entities which bore the brunt of state capture, will however remain in the state’s hands.
“While there may be diverse electricity generators
and distributors, transmission must remain under
the control of the people as it is a national security
matter,” Ramaphosa said.
Eskom, which was one of the state-owned entities which bore the brunt of state capture, will however remain in the state’s hands.
“While there may be diverse electricity generators and distributors, transmission must remain under the control of the people as it is a national security matter,” Ramaphosa said.
