Stage 6 loadshedding will hopefully not be reintroduced, but South Africans need to come to terms with the fact that power cuts will be around for at least the next 18 months.

This is the bad news delivered by Eskom Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer, speaking at Agri SA’s national congress in Pretoria.

Oberholzer says the power utility may have to take the “bold step” and implement Stage 2 loadshedding for an extended period of time, so people can plan their lives, and Eskom can get on with the business of conducting maintenance work on its ailing fleet of power plants.

We are going to go through a tough time over the next year and a half.

Oberholzer says he did not like to predict how long loadshedding will last, because people will then hold him to it, but his ”gut” tells him it will be another 18 months.

He joked people often refer to him as the ”Prince of Darkness” in public.

Defending what has become the longest bout of loadshedding since power cuts started in the mid-2000’s, Oberholzer said had they not implemented power cuts over the past two years, the situation would be much worse now.

I just want to say that I am very sorry about load shedding. I say this because I take my job seriously.

Despite the loadshedding outlook, Oberholzer says exciting times lie ahead for the country as it embarks of a renewable energy journey.

He says renewable energy will not be enough to provide the 4,000 to 6,000 MW of additional power that the country needs, and believes a hybrid model is needed to help solve the energy crisis.

In the next decade and a half, Eskom will have to decommission 9 of its 15 coal-fired power stations.

Units in desperate need of maintenance are running at 92% of their capacity, which is why so many of them fail so often.

The biggest challenge for Eskom in the next decade and a half is to get R1 000 billion for investment and, among other things, build 8 500 km of transmission lines and 7 500 km of distribution lines.

Oberholzer also said in a panel discussion that Eskom is strongly in favor of nuclear power and is currently looking at smaller modular generators.