According to recent news reports, Eskom, the South African power utility company, has noted gradual improvements to its power generation fleet [2]. However, Eskom still faces significant challenges in meeting the country’s electricity demand, with a reported need for an additional 6,000 megawatts of generating capacity [9].
Eskom has been pursuing a multi-pronged approach to improving its power generation capacity, which includes reducing emissions at its existing coal-fired fleet, investing in power generation from renewables and nuclear sources, and implementing air quality offsets [5]. Eskom has also undertaken new projects to create additional generation power capacity. For example, the latest round of Bid Window 5 projects is expected to generate more than 2,500MW of power at a weighted average price of 47.3 cents per kilowatt hour, which is reportedly the cheapest yet [4].
Eskom’s Data Portal provides up-to-date insights into its operational performance, including its generation capacity and performance. The Eskom Data Portal includes data sets on generation performance, demand history and forecasts, OCGT usage, and renewable energy contributions [1]. The weekly Eskom Generation Capacity Breakdown on the Data Portal provides information on the ratio between available Eskom plant and all unavailabilities expressed as a percentage [3]. Eskom’s Weekly System Status Report also provides information on the energy availability factor and outage factors [6]. Additionally, the System Hourly Demand and Available Capacity data set on the Data Portal indicates the amount of surplus or shortfall in Eskom’s hourly demand compared to its available capacity [7].
In summary, Eskom has noted gradual improvements to its power generation fleet, but still faces challenges in meeting the country’s electricity demand. The company has been pursuing a multi-pronged approach to improve its power generation capacity, which includes reducing emissions, investing in renewables and nuclear sources, and implementing air quality offsets. The Eskom Data Portal provides up-to-date insights into Eskom’s operational performance, including its generation capacity and performance.