Ramokgopa’s plan to solve load shedding is more diesel

South Africa’s electricity minister proposed a plan to stave off deeper power cuts by increasing the use of diesel turbines along with building more storage capacity to store the fuel, Bloomberg reported.

State-owned utility Eskom will need to increase its budget for diesel, said minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, according to a copy of a presentation seen by Bloomberg. The plan showed that a special dispensation could reduce costs by allowing Eskom to purchase the fuel directly.

The strategy would result in the increased use of fossil fuels to mitigate electricity shortages in the most industrialized nation on the continent. In the worst-case scenario, South Africa could reach stage 8 power cuts, meaning 8,000 megawatts would be cut, according to the presentation to the governing African National Congress’s national executive committee.

The presentation showed that diesel turbines running at maximum capacity could insulate the nation from two stages, about 2,000 megawatts, of power cuts.

Ramokgopa also asks for the extended use of coal-fired units set for decommissioning over the next few years. An update of the schedule to shut stations down must be approved by the cabinet by the end of June.

However, this proposal starkly contrasts the original energy plan outlined by NECOM and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Just Energy Transition, which both have seen substantial amounts of investment.

“When a plan is agreed upon, it aligns many stakeholders. When it is then deviated from, it inevitably creates misalignment and a loss of trust,” said the CEO of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), Busi Mavuso.

“These plans proposed by the minister require huge amounts of investment and can only affect electricity availability several years ahead of us and may well face operating costs that are higher than the costs of alternative sources of new electricity,” the CEO added.

Mavuso said that the most value from coal power stations must be extracted. However, it must be done so considering the costs and through the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP).

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Ramokgopa’s plan to solve load shedding is more diesel