More than 16 hours without power?: Eskom, stage 10 load shedding winter special

Stage 6 load shedding has been implemented until further notice on Friday after Eskom confirmed four of their units were down for repairs.

The country has been in the dark since the early hours of Friday morning even though Eskom said stage 6 would be implemented at 5 am.

Generating units at Tutuka, Kriel, Duvha and Kendal power stations have experienced failures in generating capacity.

Eskom which has been shifting between stages 5 and 6 this week has shed on average 6 000 MW which could be argued that these outages are borderline equivalent to stage 7 load shedding

Stage 10

The country is expected to brace for a higher stage of power cuts as Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopha faces a time crunch due to incoming harsher weather conditions.

The electricity Minister has warned of possible increased power cuts if Eskom cannot improve its generation capacity come Winter.

The warning comes as a rough forecast indicates a possible shortfall of between 8 000MW and 10 000MW.

A gap needs to be closed and fast between generation capacity and demand.

A guaranteed 27 000MW of power will not cut it considering peak demand in Summer averages about 32 000MW.

The power utility has been struggling to produce 26 000MW consistently while demand sits between 30 000MW and 32 000MW.

Grid collapse

All these power cuts are aimed at keeping the country’s grid from total collapse.

What’s has become a reality are more than five hours without power with more hours likely to be added as the country heads into even worse cold season.

Households could see more than 16 hours without power.

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