Officials from Eskom have predicted that there would be rolling blackouts (between stages 1 and 3) every single day between December and January, except for six additional days. In addition, this is the most favorable circumstance. As a result of rising demand and unsettling levels of unscheduled blackouts, the situation regarding electricity appears to be highly precarious for the majority of 2024 and the beginning of 2025.
Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, the country’s minister of energy, recently made a statement about the state of South Africa’s energy grid, but an Eskom employee’s projection contradicts that statement. The forecast indicates that there will be frequent blackouts between December and January.
Officials from Eskom recently gave a presentation to the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, an organization that represents the country’s biggest retailers. The presentation detailed that the country will still be exposed to severe power outages in December and January.
The thirty-page presentation that was posted on November 22nd has been viewed by Daily Maverick.
During December, the officials anticipate that there will be blackouts (between stages 1 and 3) every day except for three more days. On the other hand, this is the best-case scenario, which depends on Eskom power units experiencing fewer unscheduled disruptions. The most catastrophic situation would include load shedding between stages 4 and 6 daily throughout December, with no days off in between. For January, a similar optimistic and pessimistic outlook is anticipated.
Eskom has predicted that the peak residual usage during December and January would be between 23,000 MW and 27,000 MW, while the scheduled outages, which are often the consequence of producing units at power stations being brought down for maintenance, are anticipated to be between 6,800 MW and 10,100 MW.
