The risk of loadshedding will remain until there is more capacity available to the grid, according to Eskom Group Chief Executive Officer, André de Ruyter. However, he is hopeful that the enity will be able to lift loadshedding in the next 10 days.
Today (Monday) marks day 73 of load shedding in South Africa since January 1, 2022.
Giving an update on the status of load shedding in South Africa de Ruyter said that the system was unpredictable at the moment with a very high unplanned outage of 9 097megawatts.
De Ruyter said they had been undertaking high-level government meetings to help accelerate solutions to bring more capacity to the grid.
He said the recent strike had led to significant maintenance backlogs and it will take weeks to recover from the strike. De Ruyter said criminal charges will be opened against striking workers.
“Once we have laid those charges, we will make sure that investigations are followed up. We are heartened to hear that a task force has been set up to tackle crime and sabotage at Eskom. We are taking action against striking workers,” he said.
De Ruyter said video recording had also been submitted to police. He added that an internal disciplinary process was also underway.
According to Eskom Chief Operating Officer, Jan Oberholzer, six stations were impacted by the strike.
He said no maintenance was performed at these stations and Duvha and Matla will need time to recover.
Meanwhile, Koeberg Unit 2 is expected to return to service by month end following delays and it will take 10 days to work up to full capacity.
The country is currently facing Stage 4 loadshedding until midnight on Monday, with Stage 2 scheduled to kick in until 5am on Tuesday.
