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Eskom, South Africa’s national power utility, appears to have its stations performing relatively well. Its energy availability factor (EAF) – the average percentage of installed capacity that is operational and ready to generate electricity – has improved compared with this time last year.
It is also higher than in 2023, which was South Africa’s worst year of loadshedding. That year, the country experienced nearly 7,000 cumulative hours of blackouts, with an EAF of just 55% for the calendar year.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) sets the minimum EAF at 65%. However, Eskom’s integrated results show that the last time the utility came close to this target was in the 2021 financial year, when the EAF stood at 64.2%.
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena has emphasised the importance of improving generation capacity: ‘Until we reach this target [of 65% EAF], every megawatt of electricity produced is precious to our national grid.’