The acting Eskom boss’s warning comes as the utility company struggles to supply consistent power to all South Africans.
On Tuesday, Callib Cassim addressed power and energy professionals from across the world at the energy conference.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Thabo Bester Set For Virtual Court Appearance On Tuesday
Enlit Africa is hosting the three-day event at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
He stated that the utility has less capacity than at this time last year, which implies load shedding would most certainly stay at stage 6 throughout the winter.
“If we start off we were a year ago during winter, we had three units of Kusile operating, which no longer are available during this winter, that equates to 2,000MW.
“We also had last year this time both units of Koeberg operating, that’s another 900 MW that’s not available to Eskom as we embark on this winter.
“So we are really starting the winter on the back foot of minus 3000MW, which makes it really difficult,” Cassim says.
He agreed that South Africans will face a difficult winter. “But what’s most important is, we must acknowledge Eskom’s shortcomings as well.
“We all agree in Eskom, for now, the most important thing is assisting [the] generation to manage the winter to the best of our ability.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Prison Warders Arrested For Hooking Up With Inmates
“The reality is, it’s gonna be tough, if we can keep the peak at stage 6 or lower, or during off-peak at stage 4 I think we gonna have a successful winter.”
He claims that there would be some relief in December when the Kusile units, totalling at least 2000MW, are anticipated to come back online.
