Eskom ramps up rolling blackouts to stage 4
Eskom will push load shedding from stage 2 to stage 4 from Wednesday morning.
Stage 4 of the dreaded power cuts will start at 9am and last until Friday at 5am, the power utility announced on Wednesday.
Eskom began implementing stage 2 load shedding on Monday due to breakdowns in some generation units.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha says further generation units failed overnight, making it necessary to push load shedding to stage 4.
“Overnight a unit each at Kendal, Duvha, Camden and Kusile power stations tripped. Since then, we have returned four units to service. However, these units still need to ramp up to full output, which necessitates a high usage of emergency generation reserves today. This being the fourth day of extremely high diesel usage, the emergency reserves are being depleted faster than can be replenished.”
He says stage 4 load shedding assist the utility to replenish the emergency reserves and continue to manage the system safely.
Load shedding will be lowered back to stage 2 From Friday until Monday morning.
The embattled power utility is operating at a total breakdown of 15 439MW while planned maintenance is 5 505MW of capacity.
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