Bad news for stage 5 load-shedding as four units go offline
Eskom says it will continue load-shedding at stage 5, possibly reducing one level by Thursday.
Although the power utility returned seven generating units to service, another four were taken offline since Monday.
“Since yesterday afternoon, four generation units at four power stations were taken offline for emergency repairs,” Eskom stated.
“These are a generating unit each at Arnot, Lethabo, Kendal and Majuba power stations.”
Eskom said seven units returned to service at Camden, Kendal, Kriel, Kusile, Lethabo and Majuba power stations.
“While some generation units are anticipated to return to service, it is necessary to continue the stage 5 load-shedding to limit the use of the emergency generation reserves,” the state-owned power utility said.
“The emergency generation reserves are severely constrained by extensive utilisation to supplement generation capacity.”
Eskom reported having 4,098MW capacity unavailable due to scheduled maintenance, while breakdowns have taken another 17,121MW offline.
“Eskom apologises for the continued and unfortunate load-shedding, which is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns.”
The power utility has implemented continuous rotational power cuts since Tuesday, 6 September, starting at stage 2 and ramping up to stage 6 over two weeks.
South Africa returned to stage 6 load-shedding in the early hours of Sunday morning without warning when units at Kriel and Kusile power stations tripped.
Eskom had warned on Saturday it may have to increase load-shedding at short notice after moving from stage 4 to stage 5 power cuts when five generating units tripped — one each at Kusile, Arnot, and Camden, and two units at Duvha.
This was after three units went down on Friday at Kriel, Majuba and Tutuka.
The power utility said on Sunday that it could no longer provide a load-shedding timetable for the coming days and would reduce load-shedding stages as it recovers generating capacity.
On Monday, Eskom launched three power procurement programmes to urgently add around 1000MW to the country’s grid — equivalent to one stage of load-shedding.
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