Further breakdowns at generation units at Eskom’s power stations have led to the power utility having to implement stage two load shedding from Wednesday until the early hours of Friday morning.
Eskom said the cluster of breakdowns and delays have rendered it with no choice but to implement power down times.
“The extension of load shedding is caused by the failure of additional units and the continued shortage of generation capacity due to delays in returning to service three generating units at Camden Power Station and two generating units at Tutuka Power Station.
“Overnight a generation unit each at Medupi, Matla, Kendall and Komati power stations failed while 240MW of power imports from Mozambique was interrupted, exacerbating the supply constraints,” Eskom said.
The electricity supplier added that as a result, at least 20 206 MW of power are not available through both planned and unplanned breakdowns.
“The extension of the load shedding is required to preserve the remaining emergency generation reserves in an attempt to limit the stage of load shedding. Eskom would like to inform the public that any further deterioration in generation capacity may require further load shedding.
“Eskom would like to apologise for the implementation of load shedding and would like to reiterate that load shedding is implemented only as a last resort in order to protect the national grid. We will communicate should there be any significant changes to the power supply situation,” Eskom said.