Cape Town – Acting Eskom CEO Calib Cassim has warned that South Africa may face stage 8 load shedding during the upcoming winter, indicating severe electricity shortages.
Eskom, the country’s power utility, has 3 000 MW less power available this winter compared to the previous year.
If unplanned outages reach 18 000 MW, stage 8 load shedding becomes highly likely, Cassim said.
“If the interventions that we have planned for the winter do not achieve the desired outcomes and your unplanned outages reach levels of 18 000MW, then the likelihood of stage 8 load shedding during peaks is extremely high,” Cassim said.
#Eskom Acting CEO Calib Cassim says the likelihood of #stage8 #loadshedding is very high this winter if the interventions planned for the cold weather season don’t yield the desired outcomes. #Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/Xu9Z544l9b
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) May 18, 2023
He said three power generation units at Kusile and one at Koeberg were offline.
However, Cassim reassured that a national blackout is improbable due to the control mechanisms in place.
“We are confident that will not occur because of the interventions and the control mechanisms that we have in place through a competent system operator team. More importantly, load shedding is necessary to keep control of the transmission grid which is critical and that is why the choice of the levels of load shedding is then executed to still remain in control of the grid.
“Eskom would like to apologise to all South Africans for the negative impact caused by the implementation of load shedding. We understand the impact load shedding has on the economy and on the livelihood of all South Africans, however, load shedding is implemented to maintain the stability of the national power system to avoid a blackout,” said Cassim.
Acting Eskom CEO Calib Cassim says it’s going to be a difficult winter. He was giving an update on the state of the grid as the cold sets in. South Africa is currently experiencing Stage 4 power cuts. #DStv403 #eNCA pic.twitter.com/66NcwiDcPk
— eNCA (@eNCA) May 18, 2023
Cassim said the good news is that Eskom is in a better financial position
“Within the budgets that are allocated in total for this calendar year, generation has [R20 billion] available to manage the demand
But according to EWN, Eskom’s generation group executive, Bheki Nxumalo, said this would still be a tough winter for residents.
“Another factor that impacts what happens daily is the unpredictability of the performance. In terms of capacity that’s available, as we’ve indicated, we are starting on the back-foot.
“There is less capacity available because of Kusile 1, 2, 3, as well as Koeberg 1, which is on outage and unfortunately will not be available during winter,” the report quoted Nxumalo as saying.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
