t's been a week of constant blackouts for South Africans, the coming week doesn't look any better as Eskom escalated blackouts from Stage 5 to 6 six on yesterday morning.This after announcing that a generation unit, each at Kusile and Kriel Power Stations, have tripped. Eskom held an urgent media briefing to update the public on a way forward. The group's  chief executive officer Andre de Ruyter explained that the power utility has been hit with a double impact of failing units and running out of reserves which left them with no choice but move to stage 6 load shedding.

PAST STAGE 6

De Ruyter said the system was under pressure and that Eskom is currently sitting with planned losses of 7,062MW, full unit losses 10,877MW, and partial losses of 4,753MW (unplanned losses of 15,630MW). He said  maintenance teams are working flat out to bring units back.                                                                             "Depending on what happens today, we may be able to drop to stage 5 but there are no commitments. Load shedding will be reduced  when it is possible to do so."
de Ruyter said, adding that there's a risk that load shedding might move past stage 6.
"Given the current performance of the coal fleet,  there is a risk that load shedding could move past stage 6 which is why the refilling of reserves is so urgent," he said.

NO CERTAINTY

Meanwhile, Group chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer, said that there is no certainty for the coming week.                                                                             "Unfortunately, no commitments can be made at this stage. 9,000MW of capacity is expected to return to the grid during the week, but stage 6 load shedding will stay in place until the necessary capacity has returned," said Oberholzer. He added that Eskom's load shedding stages run through to stage 8 and this would be necessary to ensure that there isn't a total collapse of the grid. Oberholzer said Eskom and the Department of Public Enterprises have agreed to the urgent procurement of energy on the open market from independent power producers (IPPs). He said Eskom was also engaging communities to reduce their use of power like switching off street lights during the day.
"We also need the public to reduce consumption during peak times, if 16 000 000 households work with us, it would make such a great difference," said Oberholzer.