South Africa, stock up on paraffin lamps and candles. Dig out your camping flashlights and consider that gas stove. We could face up to 26 days of loadshedding in the coming winter months if capacity is lost at Eskom.
R2.7 billion in diesel spending is needed to meet capacity and avoid this severe plunge into darkness. However, if capacity were to stabilise, the days of loadshedding could decrease to only two.
Eskom’s head of transmission, Segomoco Scheepers, revealed this forecast during a briefing on the state of the power utility on Monday, March 15.
Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer said at the moment, the power station remains vulnerable, reports IOL. “The unreliability of the ageing fleet, with an uncertainty of about 6 000MW of capacity at any given time, will remain until the reliability maintenance programme is able to address the historical maintenance backlog.
“The power system remains vulnerable and volatile with the risk of load shedding significantly reduced after the completion of the reliability maintenance by September,” he continued.
“Recovering the operational performance is our top priority and we will not compromise on reliability maintenance and mid-life refurbishment,” Oberholzer added.
