Brace yourself for a dark winter — as Eskom presented a very bleak picture when it outlined its winter outlook, stating that it is going into winter with shortages of about 6,500MW.
Eskom's group executive of transmission Segomoco Scheppers said the 2023 winter season will be “tight” as the embattled power utility moves into the season with available capacity of 26,500MW, while it estimates demand will hover around 33,000MW.
Eskom has been implementing stage 6 power cuts during evening peaks and that is expected to worsen as winter creeps in.
Scheppers said another problem Eskom faces is the “unpredictability” of the power generation fleet, with breakdowns that could hit any time.
Scheppers said there's a possibility of implementing stage 8 load-shedding, however Eskom has already admitted that stage 3 and stage 5 levels of load-shedding will be implemented between now and August.
He said Eskom was already entering winter 2023 on the back foot, with more than 3,000MW less capacity due to the unavailability of three units at Kusile power station in Mpumalanga and another unit at Koeberg nuclear station in the Western Cape.
We are starting this winter on the back foot — Eskom
Power utility anticipates a 'very difficult winter' with possible stage 8 load-shedding.
Image: 123RF/Jakub Gojda
Brace yourself for a dark winter — as Eskom presented a very bleak picture when it outlined its winter outlook, stating that it is going into winter with shortages of about 6,500MW.
Eskom's group executive of transmission Segomoco Scheppers said the 2023 winter season will be “tight” as the embattled power utility moves into the season with available capacity of 26,500MW, while it estimates demand will hover around 33,000MW.
Eskom has been implementing stage 6 power cuts during evening peaks and that is expected to worsen as winter creeps in.
Scheppers said another problem Eskom faces is the “unpredictability” of the power generation fleet, with breakdowns that could hit any time.
Scheppers said there's a possibility of implementing stage 8 load-shedding, however Eskom has already admitted that stage 3 and stage 5 levels of load-shedding will be implemented between now and August.
He said Eskom was already entering winter 2023 on the back foot, with more than 3,000MW less capacity due to the unavailability of three units at Kusile power station in Mpumalanga and another unit at Koeberg nuclear station in the Western Cape.
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