Just hours after struggling Eskom warned its “system was constrained”, the power utility on Wednesday morning announced the return of load-shedding.
“Regretfully, due to the ongoing insufficient generation capacity and the loss of a unit each at Medupi, Duvha, and Kendal power stations this morning, Stage 2 load-shedding will be implemented from 14:00 today until 05:00 on Saturday 20 November,” said Eskom.
“This is to preserve the remaining emergency reserves at the OCGT and pump storage power stations in order to prevent higher stages of load-shedding.
“Of the five units that failed yesterday, a unit at Majuba, Kriel and Matimba power stations have returned to service while the remaining two units are undergoing boiler tube leak repairs.”
Total breakdowns currently amount to 15 485MW while planned maintenance is 4 100MW of capacity, said the power utility.
Stage 2 load shedding means that up to 2 000MW of capacity needs to be shed.
Consumers can expect to be shed up to 6 times over a four-day period for two hours at a time, or 6 times over an eight-day period for four hours at a time.
Giving an update on Eskom’s troubles, CEO Andre de Ruyter said the fragile power system continues to battle breakdowns.
“On Tuesday, five units at our aging and inefficient power plants went offline,” said De Ruyter.
He said Eskom was also dealing with two boiler tube leaks at the Kusile and Medupi plants.
“We remind customers that load-shedding is implemented as a last resort to maintain the stability of the power system regardless of the stage of load-shedding,” said Eskom.
“Eskom would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the implementation of load-shedding, and requests the public to reduce the usage of electricity in order to help us through the constraints,” said the power utility.
Eskom said it will communicate promptly should there be any significant changes to the power system.
