Here’s how many more days of load-shedding we may have this winter

The number of days SA is expected to be in the dark during winter this year has been increased to 104.

This is according to Eskom’s head of transmission Segomoco Scheppers, who was updating the country on its operational performance on Wednesday.

Scheppers said the power utility’s worst case scenario estimate indicates that SA will be in the dark for more days than initially expected. 

Previously, he said the power utility expects between 37 and 101 days of load-shedding during winter. 

Since January there have been 32 days of load-shedding. This is six days more than the 26 days during the same period last year.

Will Eskom be declared a state of disaster?

Public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan last week dismissed calls to declare Eskom a state of disaster, saying government has not considered it.

There was no need for the declaration because load-shedding was a tool to protect the system from total collapse.

“There should be a distinction between a state of disaster for ‘dramatic effect’ compared to a power system emergency which falls within the purview of the system’s operator. At all times the main imperative is to avoid the total collapse of the grid as occurred in California and more recently in Texas, US.”

There were internal plans to manage the power system which would allow Eskom to implement up to stage 8 load-shedding to protect the grid from total collapse.

“Eskom manages the stability of the grid with load-shedding as a key mechanism to mitigate against collapse. There is no requirement for Eskom or government to declare such an emergency,” said Gordhan.

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