South Africa: Eskom Carries South Africa Through Load Shedding Free Winter
Eskom has successfully powered South Africa through the entire 2026 winter season without the implementation of load shedding, keeping the grid completely stable, even when heavy overcast skies slashed rooftop solar generation.
This has fulfilled the power utility’s projection of a load shedding-free winter made at the beginning of this season.
“The stability experienced during winter was driven by a significant turnaround in Eskom’s generation performance. Eskom’s year-to-date Energy Availability Factor [EAF] has risen to 67.79%, its highest level since 2020, while unplanned outages have reduced from 34.48% to 19.47%.
“Together, these improvements have restored 6 888MW of generation capacity to the grid compared to three years ago, almost equivalent to the combined capacity of Kusile and Kriel power stations.
“These gains enabled Eskom to meet winter demand, while significantly reducing reliance on costly diesel-fired Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs),” the power utility said.
Eskom has recorded some 476 days without the implementation of load shedding – a reflection of the improved plant reliability, reduced breakdowns and strengthened maintenance.
“The scale of this recovery reflects the success of Eskom’s disciplined maintenance programme and operational improvements in restoring fleet performance and system resilience. These gains are strengthening energy security, supporting economic growth and delivering a more reliable electricity supply for South Africa.
“The ability to reliably meet demand under these conditions demonstrates the tangible impact of sustained structural and operational improvements across Eskom’s generation fleet and underscores the strength and resilience of a power system increasingly built on a stronger-performing generation fleet rather than short-term interventions,” Eskom said.
Added to this, the power utility’s Load Reduction Eradication Programme is also yielding results, with some 1.2 million customers “restored to normal supply conditions”.
“Seven provinces are now completely free from load reduction. An estimated 1 222 430 customers are no longer impacted by load reduction, representing approximately 72% of the 1.69 million customers targeted under the programme.
“This includes 670 785 customers in Limpopo and Mpumalanga; 268 902 in Gauteng; 29 812 in the Eastern and Western Cape; 202 703 in KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, and 50 228 in the North West and Northern Cape,” Eskom said.
By SAnews.gov.za.
