- South Africa’s state owned power utility, Eskom, has announced they will be implementing Stage 2 loadshedding from 5pm today through to 5am Monday 9 May.
- The bout of loadshedding has been caused by a shortage of generation capacity owing to delays in returning generators to service, as well as breakdowns of nine generators.
- The country can expect 101 days of loadshedding this winter under an extreme case scenario. Read more
Since yesterday a generation unit each at Lethabo, Tutuka, Ingula, Drakensberg, Arnot as well as two units each at Hendrina and Matla power stations suffered breakdowns. Further, delays in returning generators to service at Arnot, Kendal and three units at Tutuka power stations have added to the capacity constraints.
Related news: Skating on thin ice – half of Eskom’s current generation capacity is down
Eskom expects to return as many of these units to service as possible over the next few days. The utility will rely on the use of emergency generating reserves to limit the stage of loadshedding during this period.
Eskom currently has 3 875MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 067MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
Source: Eskom
