[Johannesburg, South Africa] – On Saturday 22 February Eskom announced Stage 3 loadshedding which was escalated to Stage 6 in the early hours of Sunday. This rapid change in the system was initially caused by an electrical fault due to an HV transformer overload that affected the entire Majuba power station, which had five units operational at the time. A separate incident at Camden power station impacted the availability of cooling water in the early hours of Sunday, causing 4 units to trip, which pushed the country to stage 6 load shedding. The system imbalance further caused a Medupi unit to trip on low frequency. At the time of writing, 3 units at Majuba and 2 units at Camden have already been returned to service and Eskom is working to recover the remainder of the system and will be announcing reductions in load shedding as the system is stabilised.
We welcome the Minister of Electricity and Energy’s comments this morning emphasising the importance of, and the ongoing focus on stabilising Eskom in line with the Energy Action Plan. This includes investment in deeper planned maintenance, which is yielding positive results but will take time to achieve fleet-wide reliability. Both Majuba and Camden have been performing at or above the Eskom EAF recovery target, which supports the view that this is not a catastrophic failure and that load shedding will end in the coming days.
It Is important to acknowledge that through the significant joint effort of government, Eskom and Business through 2023 and 2024, have enjoyed a much earlier than expected halt to loadshedding than what was projected for South Africa. The events of this weekend and the announcement of loadshedding stage 6 is temporary and does not signify a return to the consistent levels of loadshedding experienced in 2023 and should not undermine the ongoing work and collaboration being achieved under the Energy Action Plan.
The President recently emphasised our constrained energy supply in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) as well as the need and urgency to improve delivery in 2025. The current pace of private sector investment in new generation is very robust and we believe that sufficient new generation is being connected on an ongoing basis to allow more system reserves, better maintenance and to keep the country out of load shedding.
We are encouraged by the transparent and quick communication offered by the Minister and Eskom Group Chief Executive on this incident. More communication and greater transparency on progress being made on the Energy Action Plan is key to building ongoing positive sentiment and public trust, which will enable investment, economic growth and job creation.
Through the joint working in NECOM under the Minister’s leadership, the Energy Council continues to mobilise business resources and support through Business for South Africa. This loadshedding incident again reminds us that 2025 is a pivotal year for implementation.
We must accelerate the preparation of the wholesale market to meet the launch date in 2026; we urgently need to clarify non-discriminatory and efficient grid access rules and encourage open competition through Traders who will accelerate investment in new generation.
Government reform objectives have been made clear through the ERA amendment bill and Climate Change bill but these will require a huge collaborative effort to implement within the target timeframes and for the betterment of all South Africans.
