<\/p>\n
The utility said that particulate emissions declined from 0.96kg\/MWh sent out at the end of March 2026 to 0.32kg\/MWh for the financial year to September 17.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The latest performance surpassed Eskom\u2019s annual particulate matter target of 0.35kg\/MWh sent out, reflecting emissions-reduction projects and operational interventions across the coal fleet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The improvement coincided with stronger generation performance. Eskom\u2019s Energy Availability Factor reached 67.96% between April 1 and September 17, the highest financial year-to-date level in six years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Weekly availability stood at 72.74% between September 11 and September 17, while more than 86% of the coal fleet operated at availability levels ranging from 60.6% to 98.6%.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Compared with three years ago, the Energy Availability Factor improved by 12.8%, returning about 6 202MW of generating capacity to the grid.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Unplanned outages fell to 19.23%, representing an improvement of 6.92% from the corresponding period last year. Average breakdowns declined by 7 126MW over three years, from 16 217MW to 9 091MW.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Improved coal-fleet reliability also reduced dependence on diesel-fired Open-Cycle Gas Turbines.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Diesel expenditure fell by 80.95% year-on-year as the Open-Cycle Gas Turbine load factor declined from 7.25% to 1.06%. Diesel-generated electricity fell by 85.33% to 146.81GWh.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lower use of emergency generation supported Eskom\u2019s efforts to reduce operating costs while strengthening the stability of SA\u2019s electricity system.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SA has recorded 490 consecutive days without load shedding since May 16, 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Planned maintenance averaged 5 979MW during the financial year to date, representing 12.62% of total generating capacity. Eskom also maintained 8 716MW in cold reserve because of excess capacity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":42060,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-45900","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"South Africa's (SA) power producer, Eskom, has reduced particulate matter emissions from the coal-fired generation fleet by about 67% while improving plant reliability and reducing reliance on diesel-powered generation.","published_date":"","news_description":"South Africa's (SA) power producer, Eskom, has reduced particulate matter emissions from the coal-fired generation fleet by about 67% while improving plant reliability and reducing reliance on diesel-powered generation.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45901,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45900\/revisions\/45901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}