(2 minutes read)
· Eskom anticipates electricity shortages on a weekly basis for the next three months, affecting the power supply, which can drag the industrial pick up of South Africa, which is showing some buoyancy, of late, in economic growth
· Eskom’s likely risk scenario over the next three months shows a deficit of more than 2,001 megawatts to meet demand and reserves
· The utility still expects shortages 50% of the time and possibly not being able to meet demand for the remainder of the period
Eskom anticipates electricity shortages on a weekly basis for the next three months, affecting the power supply, which can drag the industrial pick up of South Africa, which is showing some buoyancy, of late, in economic growth.
Eskom’s likely risk scenario over the next three months shows a deficit of more than 2,001 megawatts to meet demand and reserves. The utility still expects shortages 50% of the time and possibly not being able to meet demand for the remainder of the period.
Eskom announced 2,000 megawatts of power cuts recently for four straight days after closing units at Kusile, its newest power station. Outages have even spread to the new Koeberg nuclear plant near Cape Town. The power utility has a debt of R464 billion ($30.6 billion) . It is attempting to transform the business by unbundling generation,
transmission and distribution units that would allow for more power from private producers. Maintenance schedule has been fast tracked to carry out overdue repairs on its fleet of aging coal-fired stations. The risk of power cuts will be significantly reduced by September this year, Eskom maintains.
