After being hit with a massive hike in fuel prices, South Africans have to deal with another blow this Wednesday – load shedding.
Eskom has announced that stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented from 11:00 today until 05:00 on Monday (7 February) morning.
Load shedding due to generator breakdowns
According to the statement Eskom released, there is a “shortage of generation capacity”.
“This loadshedding is necessary due to a shortage of generation capacity following breakdowns of two more generating units during the night,” the statement read.
Units at Kusile and Kendal power stations tripped while the power station was dealing with delays in returning units at the Kusile, Tutuka, Duvha, Lethabo and Grootvlei stations.
Generators to be fixed during load shedding period
Eskom further explained that they will be using the load shedding period from Wednesday to Monday to fix the emergency generators.
“Since the weekend Eskom has utilised significant amounts of emergency generating reserves, which have now been depleted and need to be replenished. Eskom will use this period of load shedding to replenish the emergency generation reserves.”
“Total breakdowns amount to 14 994MW while planned maintenance is 4 435MW of capacity as we continue with the reliability maintenance. Three generating units are expected to return to service by Wednesday afternoon,” Eskom said.
Furthermore, the power station urges all South Africans to be aware of the amount of electricity is being used and to switch off non-essential items.