Eskom intensifies loadshedding continuously into Easter Friday
Eskom has announced that Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented continuously from Wednesday morning until the morning of Easter on Friday.
The struggling power utility had initially planned on lifting the blackouts through the day and implementing it overnight on Wednesday and Thursday.
However, it was announced early on Wednesday morning that a further deterioration of the system with units at various power stations failing to return to service has now forced the embattled Eskom to intensify load shedding with immediate effect.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha confirmed that the rolling blackouts will be implemented from Wednesday morning – and stretched continuously until 5 am on Friday.
“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,” says Mantshantsha.
A generation unit each at Medupi, Matla, Kendal and Komati power stations also failed overnight.
This while 240MW of power imports from Mozambique was interrupted, exacerbating the supply constraints.
Mantshantsha added that generation units were however returned to service at Matla, Grootvlei and Camden power stations.
The embattled utility is currently running at 5 379MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 827MW of capacity is unavailable due to 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,” adds Mantshantsha.
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