The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has amended Section 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act, making it possible to operate a generation facility with a capacity of 100MW without obtaining a licence from the regulator.
In a statement on Friday, Eskom hailed the decision, saying the move would enable it to continue its reliability maintenance recovery programme and maintain long-term operations.
As a result of the amendment, Eskom says there will be a much lower possibility of load-shedding in the near future.
“In fact, many electricity generating units require planned maintenance, which puts a strain on the national power grid,” said the Power Utility.
In the long run, Eskom believes the Act will greatly assist in the efforts to provide a more reliable and sufficient supply of electricity for the economy, as well as contribute to the repair of infrastructure.
“As a result, customer-funded capacity, combined with contributions from independent power producers (IPPs), will enable us to significantly reduce the risk of load -shedding in the near future.”
Eskom said the amendment, along with its efforts to repurpose and repower ageing power stations, would go a long way towards closing the South African electricity supply gap.
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