Eskom pauses load-shedding

Eskom says it will suspend load-shedding at 10:00 on Sunday due to the recovery of more than 3,000MW of generation capacity and replenishment of emergency reserves.

It added that it aims to restore an additional 4,091MW of capacity by Monday.

The state-owned power utility noted that coal operations at Kusile Power stations have reached “optimal levels” and that the units out of service on Friday are back online.

It also said that it is in the process of recovering Koeberg Unit 2, reassuring the public that it remains safe.

“We maintain our guidance that load-shedding is largely behind us due to structural improvements in the generation fleet,” Eskom said.

“While baseload capacity remains constrained, our generation recovery plan is addressing this challenge. The dedicated efforts of our highly skilled staff remain unwavering.”

Eskom announced on Saturday that its unplanned capacity loss factor rose from 15,000MW earlier in the week to 18,000MW on Friday, necessitating Stage 3 load-shedding over the weekend.

The unplanned capacity loss factor refers to the ratio of the unavailable capacity of units experiencing outages to the total net installed capacity of all units over the same period.

Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said this was mainly due to the maintenance of generation units not returning on the planned dates, referred to as slippage.

Minister of Energy and Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa apologised for the power cuts and reiterated that South Africans should never accept load-shedding as a normal occurrence.

“I would like to convey my sincere apologies that the country has to experience the gross inconvenience of load-shedding,” Ramokgopa said during the briefing.

“As the president mentioned during the State SONA, it has huge implications for economic growth and business development.”

The Minister said that the capacity loss factor oscillating between 8,500MW and 11,000MW indicates that something has gone wrong and needs to be dealt with.

He added that he would work through Eskom’s leadership to visit power stations and understand what caused the setback.