The dark days are far from over, Eskom announces
The power utility says prolonged power cuts can be expected for up to a year.
Eskom says that ‘major capital projects and repairs’ and severe capacity constraints will result in load-shedding to be implemented for months to come.
The power utility is currently addressing the media about the state of the system.
“Of major concern is the high levels of unplanned outages, which contributed to the 155 days of load-shedding experienced since January,” Eskom says.
COO Jan Oberholzer announced in the media briefing that Eskom has spent more than R12b on burning diesel this year.
“Eskom does not have the money to burn diesel anymore,” Oberholzer said.
Prolonged loadshedding will continue to be implemented over the next few months as major capital projects and repairs reduce available generation capacity
The State of the System Presentation https://t.co/syKN58n97r pic.twitter.com/HgjjPgIoav
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) November 15, 2022
Also read: Eskom: Highest probability ever of total blackout – expert
He said that due to municipalities owing the power utility R52b, they have been forced to burn diesel to keep the lights on.
The maintenance and repair projects will directly impact generation capabilities at Koeberg, Kusile and Medupi.
Koeberg Unit 1 will be taken offline on December 8 and is only expected to return to service by June 2023.
Kusile unit 1 (duct failure) and unit 2 (precautionary delay) went offline on October 23 and a date is yet to be determined when they will return to service. Meanwhile, unit 3 at Kusile was taken off on November 3, also as a precautionary measure, and a date to return to service is also yet to be announced.
A generator explosion at Medupi unit 4, which resulted in two people being fired after an investigation, has left the unit out of service since August 8, 2021. Oberholzer says the unit is set to return to service in September 2024.
“While Eskom works on returning these large units to service, we will have to continue limping along to meet demand for electricity, particularly over the next six to 12 months,” he adds.
Stage 2 load-shedding is currently in implementation and stage 3 will come into effect at 16:00 and continue until 05:00 on Wednesday. Stage 2 load-shedding will then be implemented again until further notice.
Read more: Load-shedding: The long, grim tale of SA’s rolling blackouts (2007– )
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