QUESTION THREE $[25]$

Read the following article and answer the question that follows:

Challenges at Eskom

Just before Eskom initiated Stage $2$ load shedding due to the failure of three generation units, CEO Andr$$ de Ruyter said in a state of the system briefing on Wednesday afternoon, $$I think it$$s important to emphasise that we should not accept load shedding and the lack of generation capacity as the new normal. $$While it$$s been going on for $14$ years now, we need to take urgent steps to address load shedding.$$ This year to date we$$ve had $32$ days of load shedding compared with $26$ days of load shedding in close to the same period last year. As of the end March $2022,$ Eskom$$s Energy Availability Factor $$ the amount of energy generation a plant is capable of supplying to the grid $$ was at $62\%,$ below their target of $74\%$ for the financial year.

The most urgent issue to be addressed is that Eskom needs at least $4,000$ megawatts $($MW$)$ of additional generation capacity to serve the country$$s energy demand. It needs the space to take some of its units off for planned maintenance. Until this capacity is met, the risk of load shedding remains. Jan Oberholzer, Eskom group chief operating officer, said in the briefing that the power utility had good performance in the network side of the business $$ transmission and distribution. The unsatisfactory performance remains in the generation $$ particularly its coal fleet.