Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
19-05-2023
PRETORIA: South Africa’s struggling state power utility Eskom has predicted a “very difficult winter” starting in June, warning that it may have to increase electricity cuts to an unprecedented level amid the country’s worst-ever power crisis.
Many households and businesses in Africa’s most industrialized economy are already facing scheduled electricity outages or load shedding of more than 10 hours a day, largely due to breakdowns in Eskom’s ailing fleet of coal power stations.
The gap between supply and demand is expected to increase in the coming winter months as people turn on their heaters, putting additional pressure on the grid.
“This is going to be a very difficult winter,” Eskom Group Executive for Transmission Segomoco Scheppers told a media briefing on Thursday.
Winter demand for power is expected to surge to about 33,000 megawatts but Eskom is only able to produce 26,000 megawatts.
Eskom has not yet gone beyond “Stage 6” power cuts, which require 6,000 megawatts to be shed from the national grid. This winter it may move to “Stage 8”, Scheppers said, which would require up to 8,000 megawatts to be shed, translating to 16 hours of outages in a 32-hour cycle.
“Stage 8” is just one scenario that Eskom is preparing for if its interventions are not effective, he said, explaining that the power cuts are necessary in order to avoid a national grid collapse.
“The alternative, which is a blackout, is really a nightmare scenario because it is an uncontrolled situation where the whole country loses supply,” said Scheppers. The likelihood of this is very low, he added.
South Africa’s power crisis has deepened over the past year, taking a heavy toll on a number of sectors and threatening price rises.
Analysts say underinvestment in the maintenance of ageing coal plants for years has affected Eskom’s capacity to deliver consistent power supply to millions of households. Some of the newer power plants have also broken down due to overburdening. Corruption and sabotage have also been blamed for the crisis, while Eskom has also had to deal with wage disputes and strikes by its workforce.
The crippling power cuts have had a severe effect on South Africa’s economy, reducing its gross domestic product by about 5 per cent in 2022, according to Eskom. (Int’l News Desk)
