Eskom's holding thumbs...
Cape Town - Eskom is confident that all of the Cape will have electricity by Friday night - but can give no guarantee that Koeberg nuclear power station will not go off-line again.
Nor it can give any guarantee that the Western Cape's power problems are a thing of the past.
Meanwhile, tempers are nearing boiling point in the province's business and agricultural sectors in the wake of the erratic nature of the "controlled" power cuts.
Also, the national electricity regulator (NER) is demanding an explanation for the continuous power failures in the Western Cape.
Thulani Gcabashe, Eskom's chief executive, said in a statement on Thursday that, although the No 2 unit at Koeberg was again in commission, it also could just cut out at any time.
He said urgent tests were being done to establish if the unit could be used to its full capacity.
The final answers...
"The unit was synchronised with the national grid on Thursday morning, but will be performing to full capacity possibly only by Saturday afternoon."
Gcabashe warned that controlled power cuts would continue until unit 2 was again in full commission and generating power.
He said Eskom should have the final answers on the problems haunting unit 1 by next week.
"Eskom managed to find a replacement part for this unit overseas.
"Our engineers are working on a plan to get this part to South Africa as quickly as possible."
He said Eskom was hoping to have unit 1 running before unit 2 was shut down by the middle of next month for maintenance.
Second nuclear power plant
"In the past month, Eskom also came to the conclusion that the Western Cape had a basic shortage of input power.
"Koeberg by itself is not enough.
"We have to embark immediately on discussions regarding a second nuclear power plant," said Gcabashe.
Nhlanhla Cebekhulu of the NER said the regulator would have to investigate whether Eskom had transgressed the terms of its licence.
Cobus Dowry, provincial minister of agriculture, said the unpredictability of the latest power failures has had an adverse influence on the agricultural sector.
"Eskom did not keep to the schedules passed on to the industry.
"On Wednesday and Thursday, the people of the Koue Bokkeveld had no electricity.
Wine producers, too
"Vegetable and fruit producers had no option but to dump their products.
"It will only be possible to calculate the losses of wine producers at a later stage as the fermentation process was interrupted."
Albert Schuitmaker, director of the Cape regional chamber of commerce and industry, said on Thursday after a meeting with Eskom and the city council that the power failures had resulted in losses amounting to millions of rand in the province.
"But, at least both parties have undertaken to keep businessmen informed of further cuts in the electricity supply."
Professor Njabulo Ndebele, vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town said the power failures had caused serious disruptions in the teaching time at the university.
Turbines need repairs
According to Charles Kadalie, manager of public lighting in the city, the council will re-commission the gas turbines of the Athlone power station at a cost of about R20m.
The turbines will be sent to England for repairs and the power station will supplement the electricity needs of the city in peak periods.
According to Andrew Kenny, an engineer specialising in energy matters, the present electricity crisis could have been prevented in 2003.
Kenny, co-author of the 2003 integrated energy plan of the department of minerals and energy, told Die Burger the plan had shown that the peak power supply in the country would fall below demand between 2005 and 2007.
Eskom's back to the wall
"If the government had embarked on the construction of new power stations then, the Cape would not have been the victim of power cuts now."
According to Kenny, Eskom now had its back to the wall.
"If Koeberg's unit 2 is shut down next month for general maintenance and unit 1 is still out of commission, the Western Cape will facing a bleak, dark and bitterly cold winter."
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