Ministry of Electricity on OPERA Assessment Report and subsequent work done by Eskom

4 March 2024

The Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa notes the Opera Assessment Report undertaken by the VGBE consortium on the operations of Eskom’s coal-fired power stations, undertaken from March to May 2023. 

As is common cause the Minister was appointed in March 2023 and has since been directing a range of interventions to implement the Energy Action Plan (EAP) to restore the operational capability of Eskom. 

The period covered in the report predates the appointment of a Group Executive for Generation, which has since provided further impetus to numerous interventions aimed at improving operational capacity of Eskom plants. 

Following this appointment, a Generation Recovery plan has been consolidated and various elements have already been implemented resulting in the reduction of the severity of load shedding, and a sustained improvement in the generation performance, with all indicators showing a positive trajectory. 

Minister Ramokgopa working closely with Eskom has sought to address all plant related shortcomings resulting in significant improvement of Eskom’s output during the reporting period. 

The generation recovery plan continues to be monitored, measured, and re-evaluated, to drive further improvements to the generation system in all respects to re-establish continuity of supply, reliability, efficiency, and public trust. 

The Minister and Eskom have been working hard on further interventions and strategic initiatives to stabilise the utility which has created a pathway to address both the limitations of Generation and Transmission capacity, including funding requirements. 

Issued by Tsakane Khambane, Spokesperson, Ministry of Electricity, 4 March 2024