By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Eskom has warned that load shedding stages will be erratic in the coming days as the group has lost its buffer of diesel generation that usually helps keep things relatively stable.
The power utility said that stage 4 load shedding will persist until further notice.
“The higher stage of load shedding is mainly due to the high level of breakdowns and the depleted emergency generation reserves,” the group said.
“Changes in the stages of load shedding will be more erratic due to the absence of the buffer that is normally provided by the diesel generation capacity between generating unit breakdowns. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes.”
Eskom said on Tuesday it has burned over R12 billion worth of diesel over the course of the year – double what it initially budgeted – trying to keep the country’s light’s on.
The utility, which is waiting for more details on government’s plan to take on a significant portion of its R400 billion debt, says that it is now financially untenable to burn more diesel at its Open Cycle Gas Turbines.
SA municipalities currently owe Eskom around R52 billion.
“We will be forced to implement load shedding because we don’t have the money to burn diesel,” COO Jan Oberholzer said at Eskom’s state of the system briefing.
He said those municipalities that owed Eskom needed to consider their role in causing more load shedding.
Load shedding has hit a record 159 days thus far. The utility’s forecast for the rest of summer and winter next year predict even more load shedding and diesel spend.
Since Friday morning, a generating unit each at Kendal and Kriel power stations were taken offline for repairs. Delays in returning to service a unit each at Arnot, Grootvlei, Hendrina and Tutuka power stations have contributed to the capacity constraints.
A generating unit each at Camden, Kriel, Tutuka and two units at Majuba power stations were returned to service.
Eskom said it currently has 4,887MW on planned maintenance, while another 15,320MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
South Africans are facing the prospect of increased load shedding at higher levels over the next year as Eskom prepares to pull its most reliable power station offline for critical maintenance in December.
The station’s unit, which produces over 920MW of energy, is only planned to return to service in the middle of 2023.
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.
Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.