Live mix › Data › January 2023
South Africa's electricity mix in January 2023
In January 2023 South Africa's grid generated 17 310.8 GWh, of which coal supplied 74.5%. Demand averaged 25 520 MW and peaked at 30 373 MW on 30 January 2023.
Where the electricity came from
| Source | GWh | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Coal | 12 895.9 | 74.5% |
| Imports | 1 012.1 | 5.8% |
| Wind | 935.7 | 5.4% |
| Nuclear | 685.6 | 4.0% |
| Solar PV | 506.6 | 2.9% |
| Diesel peakers | 392.5 | 2.3% |
| Hydro | 388.4 | 2.2% |
| Pumped storage | 308.9 | 1.8% |
| Concentrated solar | 160.5 | 0.9% |
| Other renewables | 24.4 | 0.1% |
| Total supply | 17 310.8 | 100% |
Load shedding in January 2023
Eskom shed 2 076 GWh of demand across 744 hours, affecting 31 of the 31 days in the month. The heaviest single day was 12 January 2023, when 97.9 GWh was shed. Separately, contracted industrial customers on interruptible supply were curtailed by 6.7 GWh. That is demand management, not load shedding.
How this month compared
Carbon intensity averaged 792 grams of CO₂ per kilowatt-hour, against a world average of 458 g/kWh in 2025 and an Africa average of about 530 g/kWh. Renewables (wind, solar PV, CSP and other renewables reporting to Eskom) supplied 9.3% of generation.
Figures are calculated from Eskom's published hourly data. Rooftop solar sits behind the meter and is not included.