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Eskom has successfully performed the first part of its planned maintenance drive without load shedding since Friday, April 24.
Plans are in place to continue with the drive this coming weekend.
“Eskom’s maintenance teams worked hard over the long-weekend and were able to perform planned maintenance on 2 303 MW of generating plant.
“They further, also returned 1 643 MW of generating capacity back to service over this period.
“The focus of the maintenance festival is to ensure long-term reliability of the plant as well as restore units that are currently offline due to technical faults,” said Eskom’s acting Chief Executive Brian Molefe.
The generating units that were taken out for scheduled maintenance include:
- Komati Unit Four (91 MW);
- Ankerlig Unit 41 (147 MW);
- Kriel Unit Five (475 MW);
- Kendal Unit One (640 MW);
- Camden Unit Two (190 MW);
- Camden Unit Three (185 MW);
- Matla Unit Four (575 MW).
The units that have been returned back online are:
- Komati Unit Four (91 MW);
- Camden Unit Two (190 MW);
- Ankerlig Unit 41 (147 MW);
- Kendal Unit One (640 MW);
- Matla Unit Four (575 MW).
The power system continues to remain significantly constrained and will be so for the rest of this week.
We are currently not load shedding, but the power system remains tight all day, particularly during this evening’s peak period between 5pm and 9pm as the power system demand profile moves towards a more typical winter profile.
“We would like to thank all electricity users for responding to our message to save. Every little bit of saving counts in reducing the need to implement load shedding,” added Molefe.
Eskom calls on all customers to continue reducing the load on the electricity grid by switching off geysers, air conditioners, pool pumps and all non-essential appliances throughout the day, which will reduce electricity demand. As the nights begin to get colder, we request electricity users to consider energy efficient ways of keeping warm.
Eskom will provide regular updates on the status of the power system through all the media platforms.