Stage 5 load shedding strikes again as more Eskom units go down
Eskom says that stage 5 load shedding will continue on Tuesday, as four more of its units have gone down.
Due to the loss of four generation units overnight, stage 5 load shedding will be implemented from 10h00 until 16h00 on Tuesday, it said.
This is after a brief downgrade to stage 4 from 05h00 this morning.
Eskom said will publish another update this afternoon.
The power utility had intended on keeping load shedding between stage 2 and stage 4 this week, but generation losses on Monday pushed the group into all-day stage 4 load shedding until further notice.
A need to restore emergency reserves pushed load shedding to stage 5 on Monday evening, but the intention was to return to lower stages during the day on Tuesday.
This plan has not panned out, however.
The country has been warned that load shedding is likely to intensify over the near term as the utility pushes to get more megawatts online by the end of the year.
During a press briefing on Sunday, electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa attributed the recent escalation in load shedding to a trifecta of issues: demand remains high and often unpredictable; Eskom has suffered several outages; and planned maintenance has ramped up following the winter cut.
While the minister expressed confidence that the electricity situation will improve heading into the last quarter of the year – as the Kusile Power Station will be adding much-needed capacity to the grid, providing a buffer for increased maintenance elsewhere – he did warn that the situation is likely to remain volatile until then.
The minister said that while planned maintenance is being ramped up, any unplanned outages or delays in getting units back online would mean that load shedding would have to be intensified.
“If (planned maintenance) coincides with a number of units failing on their own, then you are exposed. And the only option available to us is intensified load shedding,” he said.
He stressed that the government and Eskom would not compromise on the ramping up planned maintenance.
“It is a calculated risk. We are going to do this the right way; we are going to fix these units. It’s a short-term pain for long-term gain,” he said.
Schedules
For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:
- City of Johannesburg
- City of Ekurhuleni
- City of Tshwane
- City of Cape Town (PDF)
- Nelson Mandela Bay
- eThekwini
- Manguang
- Buffalo City
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.
Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.
Read: More load shedding hurdles on the horizon for businesses in South Africa
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