South African power utility, Eskom has announced that Stage 2 loadshedding will commence this week. The rolling blackouts will take place between 16:00 and 00:00 over the next three days.
Eskom explained that loadshedding was caused by the delays of generation units returning to power at several power stations around the country. These power stations include the Arnot power station, Kusile power station and Koeberg power station.
This national grid was further constrained by the failure of generation units at Medupi, Hendrina, Camden while two units at the Majuba power station are offline.
Eskom has warned that the loadshedding stage can change at any time based on the state of the national electricity grid. This as any further loss of generation capacity over the next three days or delayed return to service could put the grid under further strain.
“Eskom would like to remind the public that loadshedding is implemented only as a last resort to protect the national grid. We therefore urge all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly especially during these uncertain times on the power system” explained the power utility.
Approximately 15 513 MW of capacity is unavailable due to unplanned breakdowns while 2 986 MW is unavailable due to planned maintenance.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced plans with the aim of ending loadshedding and reducing the country’s reliance on a sole power supplier, but Unions Are Against These Plans.
