"We are making use of the opportunity of the low demand to carry out important short-term maintenance of our generation infrastructure," Eskom said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We have increased planned maintenance to 9,032MW, while unplanned outages or breakdowns have been reduced to 8,572MW as at 4.10pm on Wednesday," it said.

"In order to protect the integrity of the system, Eskom has taken some generation units offline. From midnight on Friday, we will add Koeberg Unit 2 to these units, which are all available to return to service at short notice should the need arise. 

"Koeberg Unit 2 is scheduled to return to service by 30 April, if not called before then," Eskom said.

Eskom has also issued notices to the independent power producers (IPPs) that during the lockdown it may curtail use of their supply to the grid, but that they would be afforded relief for lost production. 

"This will ensure none of the wind IPPs are worse off than before the force majeure (notices)." 

African News Agency