Rolling blackouts to continue until Sunday
Eskom will be implementing Stage 2 load shedding from 10 o’clock on Wednesday morning until 10pm on Sunday.
The embattled power utility blamed the latest bout of load shedding to delays in returning generating units and the persisting winter cold.
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Eskom spokesperson Sikhonathi Mantshantsha says Kusile, Tutuka, Duvha, Kendal and Koeberg Power Stations are struggling to return generation units.
“In addition, these constraints have been exacerbated by the high winter demand throughout the day over the past few days as brought about by the colder temperatures.
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The emergency generation reserves have been used extensively in the past days to avoid load shedding during the day. This has resulted in these being depleted, reducing available capacity. It is, therefore, necessary to implement load shedding continuously in order to replenish the emergency,”says Mantshantsha.
He says breakdowns currently total 13 752MW of capacity “while planned maintenance is 1 273MW of capacity. These capacity constraints will continue for the foreseeable future and all South Africans are urged to reduce their use of electricity, particularly between 17:00 and 22:00, when the winter demand is the highest,” adds Mantshantsha.
