Eskom koeberg skilled workers load reduction

Photo by Gallo Images / Nardus Engelbrecht

Eskom downgrades load shedding to Stage 1 on Friday 21 August

Eskom have announced that they can now shift to Stage 1 load shedding on Friday between 9:00 and 22:00 after restoring four units to service.

Eskom koeberg skilled workers load reduction

Photo by Gallo Images / Nardus Engelbrecht

A little good news for South Africans on Thursday evening, as embattled power suppliers Eskom have announced that they are able to downgrade the severity of the load shedding schedule currently keeping communities in the dark from Stage 2 to Stage 1 on Friday 21 August. 

Having successfully returned a number of critical generation units to service, Eskom said that they can now afford to power the country for nearly the entire day on Friday, however they warned that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and there may well be an unfortunate escalation back to Stage 2 should any more units crash. 

STAGE 1 LOAD SHEDDING TO BE IMPLEMENTED ON Friday 21 August

In a statement released on Thursday 20 August, Eskom said the power units at four of their plants had been returned to service. 

“Eskom is pleased to announce that load shedding will be reduces to Stage 1 tomorrow as capacity constraints have eased today,” they said. 

“This follows the return to service of four generation units yesterday and today. Stage 1 load shedding will be implemented starting 9:00 until 22:00 tomorrow.”

They are optimistic that their maintenance teams are enjoying a spot of success at the moment, and are hopeful that the situation will improve further over the weekend.

“Four generators were returned to service at the Duvka, Kriel, Tutuka and Kusile power stations. Three more units are expected to return to service during the night,” they said. 

Currently, Eskom are battling unplanned breakdowns standing at 11 250 MW of capacity, adding to the 4 400 MW currently out due to planned maintenance on other infrastructural sites. 

Infrastructure “unreliable and volatile’

With all good news afforded by Eskom, so too usually follows a warning of imminent calamity. They said that users should continue to use electricity sparingly or risk further breakdowns of their infrastructure, which they are quite comfortable describing as “unreliable and volatile”. 

“While the supply constraints have eased this afternoon, Eskom still urges the public to use electricity sparingly as the aged generation infrastructure is unreliable and volatile.”

“Any deterioration in the generation performance may therefore necessitate the escalation in the stage of load shedding at short notice.”