Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, is facing a severe generation shortage, and load-shedding is highly likely for the next year, according to its 2023 Week 29 system status report. The report’s 52-week outlook reveals that electricity demand will exceed available generating capacity.
The risk of higher load-shedding stages, including stage 8, is still present in South Africa despite Eskom’s better performance during winter so far.
Professor Hartmut Winkler warns that the country is not yet out of the woods and load-shedding could still escalate to higher stages.
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa has granted a license to the National Transmission Company South Africa to operate the country’s transmission system. This move is a major milestone in Eskom’s split into three entities – Generation, Distribution, and Transmission.
Eskom is facing a severe skills crisis as many experienced and qualified employees have left or plan to leave the power utility due to its difficult working environment.
On 20 July 2023, an Eskom employee was arrested on corruption charges related to tender irregularities at the Kriel power station.