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- 71% of Eskom’s generating capacity is in working order
- It’s an improvement from 49% at the start of 2024
- Fewer breakdowns, better maintenance are keeping the lights on
Eskom is finally making headway in keeping the country’s lights on. A key improvement has been an uptick in the energy availability factor (EAF), the average percentage of Eskom’s installed capacity that is in working order and ready to run if needed.
In the last week of July, Eskom power stations had an EAF of 71% with six power stations – Kusile, Lethabo, Majuba, Matla, Medupi and Tutuka – contributing to the milestone. It’s a significant improvement from the start of the year when its power stations had an EAF of 49%.
Fewer unplanned outages from breakdowns and better maintenance have resulted in fewer hours of rolling blackouts. Between January and August 2024, South Africa had 83 days of loadshedding. Last year, 335 days were affected by loadshedding.
South Africa’s power utility has promised to achieve an average 70% EAF by March 2025.
Note: EAF excludes energy produced by renewables, independent power producers and international imports.
— 8 August, 2024Subscribe to the weekly newsletter for more charts like this
