Johannesburg - Eskom is losing its battle to do essential maintenance at the country's power plants.
Rapport reports on Sunday that the power utility is caught up in a spiral of unplanned maintenance which is impacting on its ability to do essential preventative maintenance.
According to Eskom's own status reports, more generating units have to be switched off due to breakdowns. But instead of doing more planned maintenance to prevent breakdowns, Eskom is doing less.
Protracted delay
"If we do all the (planned) maintenance we are supposed to do, it would lead to Phase 3 load shedding. If we do it under those circumstances, the power grid becomes unstable to the extent that the risk of a total blackout becomes too great. We are not prepared to do that," an engineer tasked with Eskom's maintenance told the newspaper.
The only solution is more resources for planned maintenance. "It is an issue of perseverance, but it is extremely important."
For increased capacity to do planned maintenance, more expertise is needed. There is, however, a protracted delay in issuing visas for foreign experts.
"Some of the equipment is so old that it is only used in two or three places in the world. The original manufacturers - suppliers such as Alstom, Siemens, General Electric and ABB - are the only ones who can truly undertake preventative maintenance on the equipment. They are struggling to get visas," the engineer said.
In the meantime, City Press and Rapport also report that Eskom conducted a contingency drill for a total blackout last week.
Emergency drills
When Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was questioned in Parliament about the existence of the countrywide simulation under the code name Exercise Breaking Dawn, he said he was not aware of such a drill and the opposition should give documentary evidence to that effect.
The newspapers quote from Eskom documentation stating that emergency drills are conducted annually, but this year Eskom decided to prepare not only for load reduction scenarios, but for a total blackout. The simulation was completed on 23 March.
Government spokesperson Donald Liphoko said the simulation was part of a health and safety routine.
"We don't expect a national blackout. There is no cause for concern."