By: Natasha Archary
Sizwe Dhlomo unpacked the ugly truth about loadshedding in the country and the possibility of a national grid collapse.
The conversation literally dampened the mood of the team in studio and listeners, matching the wet coal supply that has become Eskom’s reality.
With whispers that the country will be plunged into Stage 8 looming, a complete grid collapse isn’t too far-fetched.
Breaking down what happened this week Monday, 20 February for Eskom to push South Africa to Stage 6 loadshedding indefinitely, Siz explained that it had everything to do with blocked draining ducts, sulphur spills and a lack of forward planning.
However, he reminded Kaya Drive listeners that even with all three generating units which are currently down at Eskom, the country will still experience loadshedding, possibly at a Stage 3 level.
“There are three generating units that are down at Eskom right now, each unit accounts for one Stage of loadshedding. It was just one unit that collapsed, and it wasn’t even the actual unit.
What happens is when you generate electricity, there’s a chimney because all sorts of gases are released, including sulphur. So, now to dampen the sulphur they add some slurry, which is essentially wet coal.
Or coal mud, okay, which traps the sulphur so it’s not released into the atmosphere.
What’s supposed to happen is that this slurry is supposed to drain out, but for some reason the drain was blocked and this couldn’t drain out which resulted in the collapse of the actual chimney and the ducts.
When this collapsed, it took down two other units. The reality is that these units cannot be fixed until, at the earliest, December.”
Listen to Sizwe Dhlomo unpacking the ugly truth about loadshedding and a possible national grid collapse:
Also read: Experts say South Africans should brace for stage 7 & 8 load-shedding this winter
