stage 6 load shedding

[FILE] A top expert has warned that the situation could deteriorate this week – Image: Canva

Good News: Eskom SUSPENDS load shedding… for now

Thanks to emergency generation reserves being recovered, Eskom says it will be ending load shedding sooner than expected

stage 6 load shedding

[FILE] A top expert has warned that the situation could deteriorate this week – Image: Canva

Eskom has announced it will be suspending load shedding much sooner than it had anticipated: The power utility says the electricity cuts will come to an end on Sunday, 5 December 2021 at 21:00. Eskom implemented stage 2 load shedding on Saturday until Monday morning at 05:00, citing several factors, including the fact that generation units at Kusile, Medupi and Arnot power stations failed to return to service. Added to that is the delay of a unit returning to service at Tutuka power station. That’s not all: Eskom had also said at that time, that the failure of the coal conveyors at Medupi led to reduced output at the station. While this had been rectified, the embattled parastatal had claimed it would still take time to recover the full operations.

Now Eskom says emergency generation reserves have adequately recovered.

“Eskom is anticipating to return to service approximately 4 100MW of generation capacity by Monday evening, which will further ease the capacity constraints. At Medupi power station the coal supply has normalised and a generating unit has returned to service,” says the utility’s spokesperson Sikonahti Mantshantsha.

Can we expect another bout of load shedding?

There’s no word yet from Eskom as to whether South Africans can expect another bout of load shedding anytime soon, but if history has taught us anything, don’t bet on the electricity cuts being suspended for too long. The utility says total breakdowns amount to 13 634MW while planned maintenance is 6 348MW of capacity
as we continue with the reliability maintenance.

While the Kendal ash plant has returned to full operation, unfortunately the station has suffered failures of two generating units. We have had further breakdowns of a unit each at Kriel, Komati and Arnot power stations, as well as a delay in returning a unit to service at Tutuka.

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha

Eskom says while the load shedding has been suspended, it has urged citizens to continue to use electricity sparingly and switch off all its non-essential items.

“We will communicate promptly should there be any significant changes to the power system,” Mantshantsha added.