Eskom COO, Jan Oberholzer Warns That 18 More Months of Regular Loadshedding Still to Come

• South Africans have to brace themselves for regular power cuts for the next 18 months
• Eskom COO Jan Oberholzer announced that the loadshedding schedule could not be elevated if the power utility comes up with more generating capacity
• The power utility is set to set first contracts to lease land to five independent power producers that will produce renewable energy

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa has 18 more months of scheduled blackouts, says Eskom Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer.

The power utility's COO says regular loadshedding won't end unless enough generating capacity is added to the power infrastructure to meet demand.

Oberholzer said Eskom needs a year to a year and a half to loosen the hold routine power blackouts have the nations during n Agri S conference in Johannesburg on Thursday, 13 October.

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The COO believes it may be necessary for Eskom to make the "bold move" and impose Stage 2 load-shedding for an extended period to carry out critical maintenance, News 24 reported.

However, Oberholzer confirms that the power utility will try by all means to limit the hours of loadshedding to night-time to curb the impact on the economy and South African citizens.

In the meantime, Eskom will sign the first contracts to lease land to five independent power producers on Friday, 14 October, to develop renewable projects.

In June, the power utility stated that it had chosen 18 enterprises to lease land at its power plants. The bids for almost 4,000 hectares are ultimately for projects with a total capacity of 1,800 megawatts of renewable energy, Business Tech reported.

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South Africans react to the prospect of 18 more months of loadshedding

South Africans shared their frustrations on social media.

Here are some reactions:

@thembawk asked:

"How are the investors taking this?"

@Dhoodatthang speculated:

"Whatever is happening at @Eskom_SA seems intentional. So many excuses, and now 18 months. So all the previous excuses were lies, I guess."

@NtokozoZN2 claimed:

"A year and a half of loadshedding ?? it's the same people that said by June this year, loadshedding would end, judging them on historical dishonesty, we will be loadshedding till 2030."

@GenduToit added:

"This story sounds very familiar...we have heard this before...I am not falling for it again. I will make sure that I am off-grid before this elusive 18 months are up."

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter complains about crooked suppliers selling the power utility bad coal

In another story, Briefly News reported that Andre de Ruyter, Eskom's CEO, says the high demand for coal has made it profitable for corrupt suppliers to cheat the power utility.

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The CEO of South Africa's only power utility claimed that the international demand for coal means that unscrupulous suppliers effectively take the coal meant for Eskom and export it to Europe. The suppliers then replace the "stolen' coal with discard coal.

Source: Briefly News