Eskom announced that from Tuesday morning, stage 2 load-shedding will be implemented until further notice, and will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes.

Load-shedding is being implemented due to a high number of breakdowns and the requirement to preserve the remaining emergency generation reserves while creating space to replenish the dam levels at the pumped storage schemes.

A generating unit each at Grootvlei and Matimba power stations was taken offline for repairs over the past 24 hours. The delay in returning a generating unit to service at Arnot and Duvha power stations has contributed to the capacity constraints.

A generating unit each at Kriel and Matla power stations was returned to service during this period.

Eskom currently has 6392 MW scheduled for maintenance, with another 16 318 MW unavailable due to breakdowns.

As previously communicated, due to the depletion of the budget to acquire diesel for the open-cycle gas turbines, Eskom has been forced to strictly conserve the remainder of the fuel reserves to protect against further unplanned outages.

The imminent refuelling and maintenance outage, as well as the long-term operation project of Unit 1 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, together with the October chimney failure that has forced three generation units offline at Kusile Power Station, will further reduce available generation capacity and significantly increase the occurrence of loadshedding during the next 6–12 months.

Eskom requests that the public exercise patience and tolerance during this difficult period.

Loadshedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns.

Statement