Eskom crisis: Dark winter awaits South Africans, says expert
Energy expert Chris Yelland has warned South Africans to brace themselves for a dark winter amid unreliable electricity supply from Eskom.
The embattled power utility implemented stage 2 load shedding on Sunday after it lost more generation units.
The power cuts are expected to continue until Wednesday.
Yelland says winter is expected to be a very difficult period for South Africans.
“The coal fleet of power stations is proving to be unreliable, unpredictable and we have more than 50% of the coal fleet at the moment that is unavailable, so that is a serious problem. So looking ahead, the year is going to be really difficult.
“One of the units at Medupi power station is out of service for two years due to a generator explosion and at Koeberg, half of the power station is out of service at the moment due to an upgrade of the steam generators and the power plants to try and extend its life. So they have to put 50% of the power station out of service for about 10 months and that is really adding to the pressure and with demand increasing due to winter. I think we are in for a tough time.
“I think winter is going to be a very difficult period because demand for electricity is high and supply of electricity is proving to be unreliable, so the combination of two is a difficult time ahead, I don’t think there is any quick fix.”
Yelland says coal remains the biggest contributing factor to continuous load shedding.
“Coal is the biggest problem by far, something like 50% of the coal-powered stations is unavailable for service, old plants, poorly maintained. Truly the coal fleet is the problem because more than 50% of the coal fleet is out of action – and remember, 80% of electricity from Eskom comes from coal so when you are relying on coal-powered power and half of it is not available you got a big problem.”
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