On Monday, 7 March, Eskom announced that Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from today at 17:00 until Wednesday morning.
Originally, today’s load shedding was set to kick in at 21:00. However, after Medupi Unit 3 broke down, Eskom found it pressing to implement power cuts sooner rather than later.
Load shedding due to multiple unit failures
According to the power station, the load shedding is due to multiple generating unit failures within the past 24 hours. As a result, the available generating capacity has severely been reduced. Thus, Stage 2 is required for Eskom to replenish the emergency generation
Since this morning, a unit at the Matla, Kendal, Matimba, Kusile and Grootvlei power stations tripped. In addition to these breakdowns, a unit each at Arnot and Hendrian power stations experienced a forced shut down. All of these problems are making that Eskom have to heavily rely on emergency generation reserves.
Thus far, total breakdowns amount to 15 228 MW. And if all goes well with repairs, a further 6 307 MW of capacity will be used for reliability maintenance.
Eskom further appeals to all South Africans to do their part and reduce the usage of electricity when possible and switch off all non-essential appliances.
