Minister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, during an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos on Thursday. Despite South Africa having gone more than 250 consecutive days without load shedding, the government is holding off on officially declaring the electricity supply crisis over, at least for now. In an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos on Thursday,Minister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said the government needed to make sure that electricity generation supports economic expansion, not just maintains current levels.
Minister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said the government needed to make sure that electricity generation supports economic expansion, not just maintains current levels. Ramokgopa emphasised that while the electricity system has improved significantly, declaring victory prematurely would be misleading unless the stable energy supply begins to positively impact economic growth. “The first goal is to reach a point where people don’t even notice how many days we’ve gone without load shedding,” Ramokgopa said.
“That would mean we’ve transitioned psychologically, we don’t anticipate its return. But we’re not quite there yet.” South Africa’s electricity system has seen improvements in capacity and reliability, with an average of 4 000MW to 5 000MW of excess energy available daily. Occasional technical issues, such as a fire on transmission lines, may temporarily reduce output, but the system has proven resilient.
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Ramokgopa acknowledged that a number of intensive electricity using companies had closed doorsas a result of a number of factors, chief among them being the cost of energy. as a result of a number of factors, chief among them being the cost of energy. He said if smelters such asSamancor, Merafe, or Vedanta, for example, were to switch on their operations all at the same time,electricity demand would shoot up to an additional 7 000MW, leaving the country with a deficit of2 000MW.
Samancor, Merafe, or Vedanta, for example, were to switch on their operations all at the same time, electricity demand would shoot up to an additional 7 000MW, leaving the country with a deficit of However, Ramokgopa was clear that the end of load shedding cannot be measured solely by technical readiness. He highlighted that while the technical system was improving, economic growth must be the next milestone.
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