CSIR analysis highlights positive contribution of renewables during 2019 load-shedding periods

South Africa’s fleet of utility-scale variable renewable energy plants contributed to limiting the extent of load-shedding instituted by Eskom during the first quarter of 2019 by 46%, new analysis by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research research shows. The report adds that, absent the instantaneous contributions from the VRE fleet of up to 2.3 GW during those periods when rotational cuts were made, Eskom would have been forced to raise the level of load-shedding instituted from Stage 4 to Stage 5, or even Stage 6.