Eskom warns of continued power cuts over next 12 months
Eskom has warned South Africans of an increased risk of load shedding over the next 12 months as the utility prepares for major repairs at its power stations.
This was announced by the utility's COO Jan Oberholzer at a media briefing on Tuesday.
South Africa has already experienced nearly 2000 hours of load shedding between January and September of 2022, according to new research by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
This was a total of 155 days of load shedding since January.
The struggling power utility has continued to implement varying stages of load shedding throughout the first half of the year, with more higher stages in September and the first two weeks of October.
Oberholzer said the major repairs will remove more than 2 300MW of generating capacity from the system, leading to prolonged load shedding.
“Due to the vulnerability and unpredictability of the power system, coupled with the major capital projects, maintenance and major repairs to be executed starting during the next few months, the risk of continued load shedding remains quite high.”
The struggling utility also plans to shut down Unit 1 at Koeberg for maintenance and refuelling on 8 December.
This will remove 920MW of generation capacity from the national grid.
"This loss of capacity, temporary as it is, will make for a very challenging summer season, particularly as this is our peak planned maintenance period where a number of units at various power stations have to be shut down to conduct much-needed maintenance,” said Oberholzer.
“While Eskom works on returning these large units to service, we will have to continue limping along to meet the demand for electricity, particularly over the next six to 12 months."
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