Embattled power utility Eskom announced stage 3 load shedding on Wednesday until further notice.
The power utility said this is due to the breakdown of two generating units and the delay in returning to service three generating units from planned maintenance.
“Due to the breakdowns of two generating units and the delay in returning to service three generating units from planned maintenance, Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented today at 16:00 until further notice,” Eskom said.
The power utility said it would issue another update when it becomes necessary.
According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africans were subjected to over 1,900 hours of power outages last year- making 2022 the most load shedding intensive year ever.
South Africa is likely to sit with prolonged levels of load shedding for the foreseeable future. In December 2022, 1,000MW was removed from the grid through Koeberg unit 1 being taken offline, and approximately 3,000MW is offline from various breakdowns at Kusile and Medupi.
According to Eskom’s outlook for 2023, it needs to keep breakdowns below 13,000MW to stave off the worst of load shedding, but the utility has struggled to keep outages below 16,000MW- the worst-case scenario in its plans.
Eskom extended stage 2 load shedding on Saturday, 31 December 2022.
“Due to the breakdowns of five generating units since yesterday afternoon, it is no longer possible to suspend load shedding at 16:00 today as previously communicated,” it said.
“Stage 2 load shedding will therefore continue until further notice.”
This came after the power utility announced it would suspend load shedding on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
The power utility said it was forced to continue stage 2 load shedding due to five generating unit breakdowns, making it impossible to suspend the power cuts as previously promised.
Source: My Broadband, Business Tech, Eyewitness News, image from Twitter: @JacaNews