Power utility Eskom has announced that stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm on Tuesday until 10pm on Saturday.
Stage 2 load shedding was implemented from 16:00 until 22h00 on Tuesday. Thereafter load shedding would continue at stage 2 daily, from 05h00 on Wednesday to 22h00 Saturday night.
“The load shedding has been caused by a shortage of generation capacity owing to breakdowns and delays in returning some generating units to service. We currently have 4 588MW on planned maintenance, while another 16 142MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdown,” the utility said in a short statement.
The breakdown of a generation unit at Arnot, Duvha, Kendal, Medupi and Tutuka power stations, as well as the delays in returning to service a unit to service at Hendrina Power Station, have exacerbated the capacity constraints.
Sikhonathi Mantshantsha, Eskom spokesperson has urged all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly.
“On Saturday morning, 3 September 2022, until 2 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station tripped from full power during the routine testing of the control rod system. The process to return the unit to service is under way.”
The group recently published its load shedding outlook for the rest of the year, noting that it has to keep unplanned outages below 13, 000MW to minimise rolling blackouts.
Source: The Citizen, Business Tech, IOL, image from Twitter: Eyewitness News