Eskom eases overnight power cuts to stage 3
Power utility Eskom has confirmed that load shedding will be reduced to stage 3 throughout the night thanks to a diesel lifeline by Petro SA.
The 50 million litres of diesel, which Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said was found at the state-owned entity, is expected to last for 15 days.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha says daytime load shedding will be maintained at stage 2.
"Courtesy of the diesel supplied by PetroSA this week, Eskom is able to reduce loadshedding during the night to stage 3 (from stage 4) at 16:00 – 05:00 until Monday morning. Daytime load shedding will be maintained at stage 2 during 05:00 – 16:00 daily until further notice. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes."
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Breakdowns at the power utility remain high with 6000 MW on planned maintenance while 14 160 MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
"Three units at Kusile Power Station are offline due to the duct (chimney structure) failure late in October and will remain offline for a few months while repairs to the chimney system take place,” says Mantshantsha.
“Unit 1 of Koeberg Nuclear Power Station will continue to generate at a reduced output over the next three weeks as the fuel is ramped down ahead of the refueling and maintenance outage scheduled to commence during December 2022."
