Eskom warned that winter will likely be a brutal period for South Africans, with plans in place to introduce Stage 8 loadshedding as a ‘worst-case scenario’.
Eskom adds Stage 8 loadshedding to winter plan
The power utility delivered its winter plan for loadshedding during Thursday’s ‘State of the System’ address.
So far, the country has teetered at high levels of rotational outages, most popularly Stage 6 in the past two weeks, and according to Eskom Board Chairperson Mpho Makwana, there is no reprieve in sight for the next three months.
Eskom’s winter plan for loadshedding is as follows:
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The power utility will, by all means, try and keep unplanned breakdowns at a minimum of 15 000MW, and limit loadshedding to a maximum of Stage 5.
In the event that unplanned breakdowns exceed 16 500MW, “loadshedding might be implemented at Stage 6.”
The power utility further warned that “if unplanned outages average to 18 000MW, loadshedding might be required every day and might be implemented up to Stage 8.”
At Stage 8, Eskom will shave a minimum of 8 000MW off the grid by cutting off power for a cumulative period of 16 hours in a 32-hour cycle, per Engineering News.
In an attempt to lessen the blow, the embattled power supplier vowed that Stage 8 loadshedding “is an ultimate worst-case scenario that Eskom is working tirelessly to avert at all cost, by all means necessary.”
“We fully comprehend the adverse impact that rotational loadshedding has on South Africa’s aldready fragile economy and its people. We are doing everything to mitigate the intensity of rotational loadshedding including taking lessons from the rest of the world. We have seen that effective rotational loadshedding during winter months requires a coordinated effort among all stakeholders within a country,” Makwana explained.
Adding salt to an unbearably painful wound, Eskom Generation Executive Bheki Nxumalo revealed the utility’s energy infrastructure was in such a poor state, the national grid’s instability will likely “persist throughout the winter months necessitating continued implementation of loadshedding.”
“We are striving to reduce plant breakdowns to 15 000MW or below for the winter period to keep loadshedding at lower stages. We, however, concede that this will be extremely hard given the unreliability and unpredictability of the power generating fleet and that we are already about 3 000MW worse off this winter compared to the same period last year,” he said.
On Thursday, Eskom reduced evening loadshedding to Stage 5 until 05:00 on Friday, 19 May 2023, and published a draft of the weekend’s loadshedding schedule.
