South African power utility, Eskom, announced that Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented between 4 PM until midnight. These scheduled power cuts will remain in place on Thursday.
Eskom said the extension of loadshedding to Thursday was caused by additional generation capacity losses during Wednesday.
While the utility did return single generation units at their Arnot and Tutuka power stations to service, however other unplanned breakdowns mean loadshedding is set to continue.
The breakdown of a generation unit each at Duvha, Kendal and Kriel power stations during the last 24 hours, as well as delays in returning units to service at Arnot, Kusile and Tutuka power stations, have put a severe strain on the power generation system.
Approximately 14 637 MW of capacity is unavailable due to unplanned breakdowns while 4 550 MW is unavailable due to planned maintenance.
Eskom warned that the stage of loadshedding can change on short notice based on the state of the national electricity grid. This as any further loss of generation capacity over the delayed return to service could put the grid under further strain.
The power utility expects the return to service of generation units at the Kriel, Majuba and Tutuka power stations over the next 24 hours. However, this is still insufficient and loadshedding will take place on Thursday.
South Africans have been subjected to 1321 hours of loadshedding this year. This amounts to 55 days of national loadshedding.
