Stage 2 load shedding ‘until Monday morning’ - Eskom
Eskom began implementing the latest bout of stage 2 load shedding on Saturday night.
The power utility has suffered breakdowns, trips at various power stations, as well as delays in returning units to service.
Spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha says Eskom’s woes has resulted in a heavily reliance on emergency generation reserves, which are now at very low levels.
The rolling blackouts are expected to last until Monday morning at 5am.
“To ensure adequate reserves for the week ahead, it is necessary to preserve the remaining emergency reserves and to replenish as much as possible before Monday,” says Mantshantsha.
“Over the past week there have been multiple breakdowns and trips, including those at Tutuka, Kriel, Hendrina, Kusile, Arnot and Kendal power stations. While some of these units have already returned to service, this has required us to utilise extensive emergency generation reserves to supplement capacity during the week. These now need to be replenished in order to increase available capacity for the week ahead,” he adds.
Total breakdowns currently amount to 15 627MW while planned maintenance is 4 954MW of capacity.
