Breakdowns leave Eskom teetering on the verge of load-shedding

- While Eskom has not planned any load-shedding ahead of the weekend, it warns that the system remains constrained

- With the system 'highly vulnerable', outages may well be on the horizon

- Energy expert Chris Yelland claims that load-shedding is closer to happening than the power utility would like to admit

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Eskom deputy spokesperson Dikatso Mothae says that no load-shedding is on the cards for Friday, but admits that the system is not guaranteed to stay stable.

In a statement issued by the embattled utility, it noted that the grid remains vulnerable and outages may be implemented at short notice.

In response to this, energy expert Chris Yelland put forward that Eskom is extremely close to implementing load-shedding:

"Eskom must be very close to load shedding with this high level of unplanned breakdowns. I am advised that electricity demand is around 27 GW, some 2 GW higher than expected at this time of year."

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In a statement on the current situation at Eskom, the utility admitted that the current level of breakdowns is high:

“Breakdowns (UCLF) are at 13 154MW as at 06:30 this morning. Our technical teams will continue to work over the holiday period to monitor the situation, carry out planned maintenance and to work at reducing unplanned breakdowns to below 9 500MW to enable us to minimise the possibility of load shedding."

The South African reports that Eskom is hopeful this high level of breakdowns wouldn't warrant an outage:

“We said there is no load shedding expected but it can happen at short notice. It is a very risky situation for us."

Briefly.co.za gathered that citizens were asked to keep usage down in a further attempt to keep the outages at bay.

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Source: Briefly News