Embattled Power utility Eskom has suspended load shedding for the weekend due to lower weekend demand.
This comes after the utility announced that the country would be moving to stage 1 load shedding on Friday from 4pm until midnight after braving stage 2 power cuts on Wednesday and Thursday over the same time frame.
In a statement, the power supplier said: “Since Wednesday evening, a generation unit each at Arnot and Majuba power stations were returned to service, while a generating unit at Duvha, Hendrina, Lethabo and Tutuka power stations were taken offline for repairs.
“We currently have 5,245MW on planned maintenance, while another 15,190MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.”
The power utility cited the lower demand of electricity over the weekend for the suspension of load shedding.
“Due to lower weekend demand load shedding will be suspended at midnight on Friday. Eskom will publish a further update on Sunday afternoon, or as soon as any significant changes occur,” said Eskom.
Meanwhile, on Friday Eskom announced that it had signed lease agreements with four independent power producers that will occupy land at two Mpumalanga power stations.
The successful bidders are HDF Energy South Africa, Red Rocket, Sola Group and South African Mainstream Renewable Power Developments.
The signed lease agreement with the power producers will run for 25 to 30 years period.
Once operational, the projects will contribute 2000MW on the national power grid.
“What makes this different is that unlike the bidding process that was run by the IPP office, there is no requirement for Eskom to sign a power purchase agreement. So, there is no onus obligation, there is no price negotiation, this is the beginning of an electricity market which was enabled by the president’s announcement on 25 July 2022.”
Source: Eyewitness News, IOL, Jacaranda FM, image from Twitter: @TheLegalSA