- South Africa ‘s state owned energy utility, Eskom, has announced that the implementation of loadshedding will be maintained at Stage 4 until further notice.
- The higher stage of loadshedding is mainly due to the high level of breakdowns and the depleted emergency generation reserves.
Changes in the stages of loadshedding will be more erratic due to the absence of the buffer that is normally provided by the diesel generation capacity between generating unit breakdowns. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes.
Related news: Eskom announces increased in loadsheding risk over the next 12 months as major repairs will remove 2300MW from the grid
Since Friday morning a generating unit each at Kendal and Kriel power stations were taken offline for repairs. Delays in returning to service a unit each at Arnot, Grootvlei, Hendrina and Tutuka power stations have contributed to the capacity constraints.
A generating unit each at Camden, Kriel, Tutuka and two units at Majuba power stations were returned to service.
Of a total of 44000MW generation capacity, Eskom currently has 4887MW on planned maintenance, while another 15320MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
