Eskom tells the public to brace itself for more load shedding
Power generating and distribution company in South Africa tells the public to brace itself for more load shedding in the winter and summer months. Eskom announced through a press statement that it is implementing the stage 2 load shedding due to increased demand and the crisis they are facing with generating enough power units.
Energy expert Chris Yellend claims the organization has problems which need to be solved or else situation might worsen. The statement released by Eskom reads:
“Eskom regrets to inform the public that stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented starting at 16.00hours this afternoon until 05.00hours tomorrow morning. This loadshedding has been caused by the higher demand as a result of the cold front setting in much earlier than expected, as well as high breakdowns of generation units.
The generation supply constraints will persist through the high winter demand period which increases the likelihood of loadshedding.
Breakdowns currently total 14 560MW of capacity, while another 2 300MW is unavailable due to planned maintenance. Some generation units are expected to return to service starting this evening, which will help ease the strain. This however, is not sufficient to eliminate the high probability of loadshedding for the rest of the week.
Eskom tells the public to brace itself for more load shedding
As usual the public is not pleased with the news following the lockdown level 2 announcement. Experts also say that loadshedding will continue in South Africa for 5 more years. In March, the Chief Executive Officer of the organization adds that the shortfall will increase if the economy grows.
“We all want an economy that is not constrained from growing due to a lack of available electricity generation capacity and, therefore, we believe that bringing forward new generation capacity as soon as possible will be positive for the economy and will avoid a downside risk of further shortfalls in generation capacity,” André De Ruyter said.