News24.com | LIVE: Gordhan concludes Eskom briefing, appeals to South Africans to reduce electricity demand
No end in sight to load shedding
– Shortage of around 10 000 MW daily.
– Will have clarity on exact interventions and timeframe in two weeks.
– Eskom/task team/government hoped to have stabilised grid by end of January, but new challenges emerged.
– Main issue is lack of maintenance at power stations, not done properly for last decade, now breaking down.
– Between Feb 2017 and Feb 2018 system tripped 300 times, between Feb 2018 and Feb 2019 it tripped 495 times.
– Four options: (1) import electricity (2) burn diesel (spent R4,5 bn the last four months to keep turbines going) (3) build new power stations and (4) load shedding.
– Problems structural, financial, operational.
– Internal resistance against reform and restructuring process, state capture elements still prevalent.