Power cuts for 18 months, says Eskom CEO

WHILE stage 2 power cuts continue into Thursday, rolling blackouts are set to inconvenience South Africans for the foreseeable future as Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter sets a target of 18 months to end the outages and improve Eskom’s maintenance programme.

De Ruyter said there would be more scheduled power cuts to come as they work to restore the system to optimal function.

He said this was not a decision made lightly, but something that could not be avoided given the current state of the energy system.

Stage 2 “rotational load shedding” was owing to system constraints and the need to replenish emergency reserves at open-cycle gas turbines and pumped storage schemes, Eskom said.

“Good progress has been made in replenishing these reserves (water and diesel), which are necessary to limit the possibility and magnitude of load shedding in the week ahead.

“Our teams are working hard to reduce unplanned outages or breakdowns, which were at 12 080MW at 7am today.

“We will continue to monitor the system closely and will give periodic updates on the status of the power system as things may change at short notice,” the power utility said yesterday.

Meanwhile, Eskom put out an expression of interest (EoI) for parties interested in the development, manufacturing and construction of small modular reactors and Triso (Tristructural isotropic) particle fuel for various reactor designs.

While they looked at commercialising the pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) in the past, Eskom now intends to dispose of the state-owned company, providing the market with “unrestricted options to pursue”.

As outlined in the EoI: “The company seeks to take PBMR out of care and maintenance and commercialise the business.

“Companies interested in investing in PBMR reactor technology or fuel technology, securing an equity stake in PBMR, buying PBMR technology, or embarking on other potential relationships or transactions, are invited to submit an Expression of Interest detailing proposals.”

They said the EoI was strictly for market research.

Interested parties can respond by February 28.

Customers can check their load shedding schedules via: loadshedding. eskom.co.za.