Hi Friends
I am sure we have all been wondering how we have had significantly less load shedding so suddenly since the end of March 2024. I know we are all not complaining because it has been beautiful, but I am sure that a few of you have been wondering how this happened. I will not spend too much time on this because the answer is simple so let’s get into it.
Load Shedding Used As Electioneering?
We all had the suspicion that load shedding would begin easing just before the elections because of obvious reasons (ANC electioneering), but I don’t think any of us expected load shedding to vanish completely as it did. Our Electricity Minister, as well as the ruling government, gave every explanation in the book as to why load shedding had reduced and of course they took all of the plaudits and essentially said “we told you we would fix load shedding”.
Now there was an increase in maintenance, repairs and power coming back online but that was not the full explanation as to why load shedding had decreased by so much. Also, very typical of government to pat themselves on their back for just doing the job they should have been doing all along, but that is besides the point.
Private Citizens And Solar
As with most of the problems in South Africa, you just have to fix it yourself and it seems like load shedding is no different. When Eskom’s System Operator, Isabel Fick, was giving reasons as to why there has been a decrease in diesel usage for the Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs) alongside a reduction in load shedding, she said that it was because of the big increase in PRIVATE photovoltaic (PV) solar being installed in households and businesses. She said that this had taken a significant strain off of Eskom’s system during periods of sunshine.
According to Eskom, there is an estimated 2 800MW of PV solar directly connected to the grid. On top of that, there is a further 5 440MW “behind-the-meter” of PV solar installed in residential households/businesses.
“"Behind-the-meter" refers to an energy system's position in relation to your electric meter. In general, residential solar panel systems live behind the meter.” - EnergySage.
Isabel Fick went on to say that this has enabled Eskom to better replenish emergency generation reserves such as the OCGTs and pumped storage dams for use during peak periods.
A significant amount of solar was being installed between July 2022 - March 2024, more especially between January 2023 - March 2024 (~2 400MW). Here is a table below to show the addition of solar during that period:
And just to show that Eskom is not out of the woods just yet, Isabel Fick explained that the usage of OCGTs in March 2024 was very high because there was more sever/harsh weather that was cold and wet that month. This meant that the contribution from solar overall was not as significant and hence Eskom had to rely more on emergency generation reserves.
South Africans Doing It For Themselves
There you have it people, South Africans taking their own initiative (read: decreasing dependence on Eskom) to install solar in their homes and businesses has led to this decrease in load shedding.
I hope you found value in this article.
Stay Savvy.