As South Africa enters the holiday season and powercuts continues unabatedly, Eskom will go down in history as the Grim reaper who stole Christmas.
This week, PetroSA supplied an additional 50 million liters of diesel, but experts warn that it will only last 10 days and that the situation is unlikely to improve, IOL reports.
“We are unquestionably moving closer to a stage 8 total grid meltdown; the likelihood is greater than 70%.” And level 6 load shedding will occur before the end of the year, according to energy analyst Ted Blom.
He stated that stage 8 meant 13 hours of daily load shedding. According to the load-shedding app EskomSePush, there have been 2,975 hours (124 days) of load shedding so far in 2022.
Yesterday afternoon, Eskom tweeted that stage 2 load shedding would continue indefinitely until further notice. “There will be no Stage 3 load shedding in the evenings, as previously communicated,” the document stated.
According to Blom, a former employee of Eskom, burning diesel could not prevent load shedding; it would only affect the level of load shedding implemented.
“The amount of load shedding can be reduced by two to three times if they use diesel.” If there are insufficient coal plants operating, diesel cannot prevent load shedding. The question is whether or not the diesel fell from the sky. Who pays for the diesel, and is PetroSA’s accounting system so inadequate that we were unaware?” asked Blom.
This week, Eskom issued a warning that load shedding would become more erratic due to diesel shortages, as diesel generation capacity normally serves as a buffer when the utility’s generating units fail.
Blom stated that there was no assurance that a complete breakdown of the grid could be avoided or that the lights would remain on during the holiday season. Those taking advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales were advised to consider purchasing small inverters and solar panels to maintain their vital systems.
“I am very suspicious of the 50 million litres of diesel that PetroSA suddenly discovered and is giving to Eskom for free because Eskom lacks the funds to pay. That is an enormous amount of diesel. Blom stated, “They are either lying to the public or playing the public.”
Blom has warned those concerned about the December holidays that the likelihood of load shedding on Christmas Day is greater than fifty percent.
“Eskom consumes 9 million litres of fuel per day, so the diesel will likely last five or six days.” They will only consume half of the diesel per day so that it will last longer.”
READ MORE: Eskom says that there is no diesel left in its tank
Concerned about how the situation would affect the release of their final grades, matriculated students have been assured that everything will be fine.
Biki Lepota, a spokesperson for Umalusi, the council for quality assurance in education, stated that although load shedding would have an impact on the marking of matric exams, it would not be as severe as it was in centers where students were writing.
