The risk of load-shedding this winter has been significantly reduced thanks to Eskom’s aggressive short-term maintenance drive during the Covid-19 lockdown.
At an Eskom state of the system briefing on Thursday, COO Jan Oberholzer said it had taken advantage of the lower demand during the lockdown to conduct a great deal more short-term opportunistic maintenance, which addresses urgent issues in the system.
Demand, meanwhile, had dropped off by 20%, although it has almost recovered to pre-lockdown levels in the past two weeks.“What has helped us in the last eight weeks doing this short-term maintenance — we ran the model again and we are now forecasting three days of load-shedding in the winter that is coming.”
Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter said the lockdown had, however, hindered the utility’s ability to continue with a so-called “reliability maintenance”, or what was previously termed “philosophy maintenance” which aims to deal with a decade of neglect that has reduced the reliability of Eskom power stations.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Eskom’s repairs during lockdown have cut risk of load-sheddingCOO Jan Oberholzer says Eskom used the lower demand during lockdown to conduct much more short-term opportunistic maintenance
Read more »
Further electricity price increases expected later this yearLockdown has not stopped Eskom from getting further tariff increases.
Read more »
WATCH | Connie Ferguson is killing the lockdown fitness lifeConnie keeps her followers motivated during the lockdown.
Read more »
More than 1,500 schools hit by vandalism, theft during lockdownThe vandalism of schools across the country continues to worsen during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Read more »
More than 1,500 schools hit by vandalism, theft during lockdownCountrywide, 1,577 schools have been rocked by vandalism, thefts and break-ins. Of that number, 463 have been in KZN and 336 in Gauteng.
Read more »
Lockdown & Food Crisis: Wildlife at risk as hunger encircles Kruger ParkThe Kruger National Park is being encircled by a ring of human hunger triggered in part by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Mozambican and Zimbabwean regions that border the park on the north and east are suffering acute food shortages. Meanwhile, the labour-intensive tourism sector on the South African side of the park has collapsed.
Read more »