- The outgoing Group Chief Executive of South Africa’s state owned energy utility, Eskom, has advised that the current Stage 6 loadshedding should be reduced to stage 4 by Wednesday afternoon.
- Andre De Ruyter resigned as Eskom GCE in early December 2022 after the country’s energy minister accused Eskom (him) of agitating to overthrow the state. Read more
- De Ruyter has since also suffered an attempt on his life after drinking coffee laced with cyanide at his Eskom office. Read more
- Since Sunday afternoon a generating unit each at Arnot, Hendrina, Lethabo and Majuba, as well as two units at Camden Power Station have suffered breakdowns and taken offline for repairs.
Further, two generating units at the Lethabo Power Station were shut down due to coal constraints as the New Vaal Mine that is supplying the station has been unable to deliver the expected amount of coal during the past week because of the heavy rains. The three running units are operating at minimum capacity and are at risk of shutdown should the coal supply constraints not be resolved.
On the weekend, a turbine tripped at Koeberg Nuclear plant. Read more
Breakdowns currently amount to 21 243MW of generating capacity while 3 566W of generating capacity is out of service for planned maintenance.
Given the high number of breakdowns, there is a possibility of further changes on the stages of loadshedding at short notice. A further update will be published as soon as any significant changes occur.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
