Durban – Load shedding is currently being implemented at Stage 5 until 5am on Saturday morning.
Eskom announced that Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented at 5am on Saturday morning until 5am on Sunday morning.
“Load shedding will then be reduced to Stage 2 at 5am on Sunday until 5am on Monday morning. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes,” the utility said in a statement.
Eskom said since Thursday morning, a generating unit each at Camden, Lethabo, Majuba and Matla power stations were taken offline for repairs and planned maintenance.
The statement added that in addition, the delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Arnot, Duvha and Kriel power stations has contributed to the capacity constraints.
“A generating unit each at Arnot, Duvha, Grootvlei, Kendal, Kriel, Matimba and Medupi power stations returned to service. We currently have 5 901MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 394MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns,” Eskom spokesperson, Sikhonathi Mantshantsha said.
He added that as previously communicated, due to the depletion of the budget to acquire diesel for the Open Cycle Gas Turbines, Eskom has been forced to strictly preserve the remaining diesel for any extreme emergency situations such as multiple, simultaneous trips of generators.
Mantshantsha explained that the pumped storage dam levels also need to be replenished during this time.
He said the refuelling and maintenance outage starting on Saturday morning, as well as the long-term operation project of Unit 1 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, together with the chimney failure during October that has forced three generation units offline at Kusile Power Station, will further reduce available generation capacity and exacerbate the occurrence of load shedding during the next 6 - 12 months.
IOL