Eskom warns of possible stage 3 load shedding
Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer has warned that stage 3 load shedding is a real possibility due to the unstable power grid.
Oberholzer, Eskom CEO André de Ruyter and members of the Eskom management addressed the media on Wednesday morning amid the latest round of rolling blackouts.
The power utility plans to implement stage 2 load shedding until midnight on Wednesday, and between 05:00 and midnight every day from Thursday to Sunday.
Oberholzer says the cold weather conditions is exacerbating the load shedding crisis.
“Prior to Monday this week, we managed to prevent load shedding for three weeks. However, this was only possible by using extensively our open cycle gas turbines as well as our dams during the day.
“In winter, we experience high morning peak demand and high evening peak demand, should we continue to experience breakdown in the fleet. This unfortunately may escalate to a stage 3 or even higher load shedding and this is what we are trying to avoid," said Oberholzer.
“We are experiencing colder temperatures as the second cold front hit Gauteng today. These cold fronts have a double impact on electricity demand of the country. This then requires Eskom generators to generate more and supply additional generation. Unfortunately, we have to shed load during the day.”
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