It’s lights out in Brackenfell but the City of Cape Town is working on the problem. Photo: Adobe Stock
Load shedding warning: Eskom says power cuts could start at short notice due to ‘numerous breakdowns’
‘Should there be any further loss of generation capacity, load shedding would be required to be implemented at short notice,’ said Eskom.
It’s lights out in Brackenfell but the City of Cape Town is working on the problem. Photo: Adobe Stock
Eskom requested that the public immediately reduce its electricity consumption to prevent load shedding as the power system is severely constrained due to generating unit breakdowns at power stations across South Africa.
LOAD SHEDDING IMMINENT?
Eskom said that while no load shedding is currently implemented this could change if there are any further breakdowns, in a statement on Tuesday, 1 February.
Since the weekend, the national power utility has suffered numerous breakdowns and had to use “significant amounts” of its emergency regeneration reserves, which places the system at risk because the reserves are difficult to replenish.
Some of the units that went down over the weekend have returned to service. However, four units are still offline, including a unit each at Matimba, Hendrina, Majuba and Kendal.
The units at Matimba and Hendrina suffered a boiler tube leak, while the other two units tripped.
“Delays in returning units at Kusile, Tutuka, Duvha and Grootvlei have also contributed to the supply constraints,” said Eskom.
In total, 14 134MW is unavailable because of the breakdowns, while planned maintenance means that a further 5028MW of capacity is unavailable.
“Should there be any further loss of generation capacity, load shedding would be required to be implemented at short notice,” said the power supplier.
Eskom said it would communicate any further significant changes to the power system.
ALSO READ:
