Cape Town: Unit 1 of the country’s only nuclear power station, Koeberg, is still down and contributing to the current load shedding. Photograph: Phando Jikelo/ Independent Newspapers.
Healthcare facilities in remote and rural areas of the country will soon not be impacted by power cuts, even when Eskom is load shedding, says Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
At a briefing yesterday, he announced that South Africa had received the first shipment of R170 million in emergency power equipment, donated by the Chinese government
At the BRICS Summit in August this year, Ramokgopa signed a joint memorandum of co-operation with Chinese entities that made available a grant of about R500m as development assistance to alleviate South Africa's energy crisis.
The Chinese government, through eight State-owned companies, agreed to supply South Africa with 552 alternative energy units – ranging from 6kW generators to 200kW diesel generators, power supply vehicles and off-grid PV energy storage supply systems – to help cushion public facilities such as schools and hospitals from load shedding.
Ramokgopa yesterday said rural areas will be prioritised as they cannot realistically be exempted from load shedding.
“I did report the last time that we were receiving that shipment from China. The first consignment has arrived, we are unveiling it officially on November 16. I did say that we are going to get about 450 units of alternative emergency power solutions, really the various configurations of diesel generators,” Ramokgopa said.
“The first of these [consignments] is the smallest of these generators, and we are going to deploy those at various clinics.
“The major beneficiaries of this... is going to be the Department of Health, because we are targeting clinics that are in remote and rural areas so that we make sure that refrigeration remains intact, even in instances of load shedding and that there is preservation of medication.
“We want to make sure that when we release these generation units, we are able to identify these clinics and it must sit on the asset register of the receiving department.”
Ramokgopa’s briefing came as Eskom resumed load shedding up to Stage 3, after capacity declined with 11 generating units taken off line.
Unplanned outages on Friday were at 17 507MW of generating capacity, including the delayed return to service of Koeberg Unit 1, while the capacity of those out of service for planned maintenance was 4 783MW.
Ramokgopa will embark on a series of follow-up visits over the next two weeks to power stations in Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the Western Cape, where he will engage with management, unions and workers.
“The visits are a follow-up to the initial round of visits that Minister Ramokgopa undertook upon his appointment... in March 2023. During the visits, the Minister sought to acquire more insights into the challenges facing the power stations.
“[This is] in order to advance the necessary interventions required to fix Eskom, in line with the objectives of the Energy Action Plan to improve the reliability of electricity supply and end load shedding,” his ministry said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the Minister will visit Kriel and Matla power stations, in Mpumalanga. On Thursday, he will visit Camden power plant.
Ramokgopa is expected to visit Lethabo plant in Gauteng on Monday, November 13. He will visit the Ankerling and Koeberg plants in the Western Cape on Tuesday, November 14.
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