‘If Eskom can address issues, it will be prepared for winter season’

Energy Expert, Ruse Moleshe says if Eskom can effectively address the issues that have led to recent load shedding, the utility will be well-prepared for the winter season.

Her remarks follow Eskom’s failure to maintain over 300 days of uninterrupted power supply last month, due to poor performance at its power stations.

Eskom has announced that it will release its winter plan in the coming weeks, stating its goal is to reduce load shedding during the winter season.

Moleshe elaborates, “I think that Eskom has done well so far in ensuring that they do not compromise on maintenance, because that will bode well for winter. Those plants that have now been out towards the end of March will be back on stream.

That is to make sure that we meet the demands of consumers, because winter is a typical period where you have high demand of electricity. If everything else outside of the small issues goes well, I think that Eskom is very well prepared for our winter.”

Electricity Minister Ramokgopa and Eskom media briefing following implementation of loadshedding:

Minimise rolling blackouts

The power utility’s Head of Power Generation, Bheki Nxumalo says they plan to minimise rolling blackouts this winter season.

“Our first prize as Eskom is not to have loadshedding, and for us as generation, but we will share with the country. Winter is at least better than the summer because we don’t have rains, thunderstorms and all of these things, because as you’ve seen our operations, some of them are outside. So we only have to deal with cold and our plan still seems to like cold weather as well, so they seem to perform much better in winter.”