S.Africa: People who put up Solar Panels generated more electricity! Thus helping worthless ESKOM generate electricity
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Get a Free PDF Book: THE GREAT SOUTH AFRICAN LAND SCANDAL
This book includes photos and shows the horrors and incompetance and assorted foolishness that took place in South Africa when the ANC obtained farms from Whites through the Land Claims process. Nothing like this has been written since. It is a classic text on wastage and inefficiency.
[It seems the worthless pricks at Eskom did virtually nothing, but they do now have companies who have solar farms and wind farms generating electricity. But it seems to me that NORMAL PEOPLE – Most likely Whites – Put in so many solar panels that this is why Eskom power has been better!!! WOW!!! The charts are at the source link below. Jan]
An increase in self-generating rooftop solar power and cooler power station operating temperatures are among several factors contributing to the recent drop in load-shedding severity.
That is according to former Eskom transmission senior manager Hein Vosloo, who recently spoke to radio station RSG about the suspension of early morning and day-time load-shedding in the past few days.
“I heard on Friday that this [rooftop PV solar capacity] is contributing more than the solar farms [that supply Eskom],” Vosloo said.
Eskom currently has about 2,787MW of solar power capacity from farms connected to its grid — 2,287MW from PV plants and 500MW from concentrated solar.
The peak power these plants have supplied at any point in 2023 was 2,395MW, during early April 2023.
According to one reputed solar installer, a home with an average 900kWh of monthly electricity consumption in South Africa requires about 12 to 14 PV panels to support a 90% off-grid system.
With the typical output being 455W per panel, the peak output of such a system would be roughly 5.46kWp to 6.37kWp, equivalent to 0.00546MWp or 0.00637MWp.
To surpass the peak generation of solar farms connected to Eskom’s grid would require between 375,981 and 438,645 of these systems.
However, likely a large part of the rooftop solar contribution that Vosloo referenced comes from businesses that have also embraced rooftop solar and built much bigger systems.
Vosloo also said that wind farms have been contributing significantly more capacity than usual, echoing recent feedback from Eskom.
According to the Eskom data portal, this contribution was as much as 4,378MW at peak in April 2023.
Vosloo said wind has typically generated between 1,000MW to 1,500MW during peak periods in the past few days.
That means it has spared South Africa from around one and a half stages of load-shedding.
In addition to the extra capacity from wind and solar, Vosloo said several coal power station units that had been on maintenance have recently been brought back online, adding a significant 3,000MW of capacity.
Vosloo also said some of these units were operating better than they had before being repaired.
Furthermore, the stations’ energy availability factors (EAFs) have improved because of improved natural cooling in the winter.
“You can run the stations a bit hotter than you can in the summer,” said Vosloo.
Energy expert Chris Yelland recently tweeted that the average week-on-week EAF had improved by three percentage points between Week 21 and Week 22 of 2023.
While it was an improvement, it was still well below the 62.7% EAF during the same week last year.
In fact, the upward trajectory of week 21 of the year is similar to 2021 and 2022.
In 2021, that was followed by a long climb in EAF before a drop at the start of the warmer months, when Eskom typically ramps up maintenance.
But in 2022, intense unprotected strikes at Eskom power stations resulted in a big plunge in EAF.
A similar doom could befall Eskom in the next few weeks if it cannot reach a deal over wages with its three biggest unions during the fourth and final round of negotiations taking place in the coming days.
The National Union of Mineworkers, National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, and Solidarity have rejected Eskom’s highest offer yet — 5.25% — demanding respective increases of 11%, 12%, and 9.5%, instead.
The graph below shows how the average week-on-week EAF has moved in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
While South Africans will certainly not complain about the reprieve from day-time load-shedding, it should be emphasised that the situation remains quite dire during peak periods.
Eskom’s peak demand statistics show it has been guzzling diesel while running its open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) over peak demand in the past few weeks.
Nevertheless, Eskom’s most recent 52-week system outlook shows a slightly improved forecast for load-shedding from a month ago.
The planned risk level now shows a deficit between 1,001 and 2,000MW for several weeks during the winter, which was previously expected to have a deficit of 2,001MW or more.
Get a Free PDF Book: THE GREAT SOUTH AFRICAN LAND SCANDAL
This book includes photos and shows the horrors and incompetance and assorted foolishness that took place in South Africa when the ANC obtained farms from Whites through the Land Claims process. Nothing like this has been written since. It is a classic text on wastage and inefficiency.
