Cape Town – Power utility Eskom has announced it will be implementing Stages 2 and 3 load shedding until Monday.
This comes after its announcement on Wednesday morning of Stage 3 load shedding being in place until further notice.
“Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented until 5am on Saturday.
“Stage 3 and 2 load shedding will again be implemented continuously from 4pm on Friday until 5am Monday,” it said.
The failing power utility said Stage 3 load shedding will continue to be implemented until 5am on Friday, and from that point, it would be suspended for the rest of the day.
However, South Africans should note that from 4pm on Friday until 5am on Saturday, Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented.
Stage 2 load shedding will then be implemented from 5am on Saturday until 5am on Monday.
The power utility said the cause of this was due to the breakdown of generating units.
“Breakdowns of five generating units overnight, two of which have returned to service, have exacerbated current generation capacity shortages, forcing the escalation of load shedding. Since (yesterday) morning a generation unit each at Arnot and Kriel power stations has been returned to service.
“Two generation units at Kendal and one at Kusile power stations were taken offline for repairs.
“We currently have 5 146MW on planned maintenance, while another 16 434MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns,” Eskom said.
The power utility is adamant it only implements load shedding as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns.
It further stated another update would be given on Sunday, or as soon as there were significant changes.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
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