'Brace yourself for probable stage 8 load shedding' - expert
An energy expert says we need to prepare for the strong possibility of higher levels of load shedding.
Eskom implemented stage 6 load shedding on Wednesday due to a breakdown of several generation units.
Dr Katleho Moloi, who is the deputy head of the Department of Electrical Power Engineering at the Durban University of Technology, says South Africans need to brace themselves.
"We need to prepare ourselves, probably even stage 8 of load shedding. The Eskom fleet is quite old and for the longest time the fleet has not been maintained optimally or to the way the system is designed.
"So, of course, any system is bound to break, especially if it is not maintained. So we need to brace ourselves for probably further stages."
READ: Expert warns of more intense load shedding
Moloi says there are other elements that are contributing to the rolling blackouts.
"There is a lot of political interference within the system which having experienced that myself when I was at Eskom, it impacts and affects how engineers must do their work.
"We need also to defiantly to be prepared on further stages that may occur in the near future. So we are likely to go to stage 8 and if we have two more breakdowns at any station that gives us more than 1 000 megawatts, we will definitely be [stage] 10."
