- South Africa’s state owned energy utility, Eskom, has implimented Stage 2 loadshedding continuously from 05:00 this morning through to Friday at 05:00.
- The extension of loadshedding is caused by the failure of additional units and the continued shortage of generation capacity due to delays in returning to service three generating units at Camden Power Station and two generating units at Tutuka Power Station.
Overnight a generation unit each at Medupi, Matla, Kendal and Komati power stations failed while 240MW of power imports from Mozambique was interrupted, exacerbating the supply constraints. Three generation units were returned to service at Matla, Grootvlei and Camden power stations.
Eskom currently have 5 379MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 827MW of capacity is unavailable due to unplanned breakdowns.
The extension of the loadshedding is required to preserve the remaining emergency generation reserves in an attempt to limit the stage of loadshedding. Eskom also warns that any further deterioration in generation capacity may require further loadshedding.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
