Dark weekend ahead: Eskom announces stage four load shedding

The dark lords of Megawatt Park have announced it’s moving the country to stage four load shedding this weekend.

‘Eskom will regretfully be implementing load shedding from 10:00 this morning until 05:00 on Monday morning,” the power utility said in a statement.

Additional breakdowns cause a dip in energy reserves

“Regretfully, due to additional breakdowns overnight, Eskom was unable to replenish the emergency generation reserves, which has worsened the current generation capacity constraints.”

The higher stage of load shedding is aimed at replenishing the emergency reserves in order to contain load shedding to lower stages in the coming week.

“A generation unit at Kendal was forced offline for emergency repairs while a unit each at Majuba,
Lethabo and Camden power stations, as well as Hydro de Cahorra Bassa in Mozambique, were shut
down for critical planned maintenance in preparation for the week ahead,” said Eskom.

“Overnight a generation unit each at Kusile and Tutuka power stations returned to service.”

Update on national grid status expected on Monday

“We currently have 5 579MW on planned maintenance, while another 16 599MW of capacity is
unavailable due to breakdowns.”

Eskom is expected to brief the nation on Monday on the status of the national grid.

“Any further significant changes will be promptly communicated. Eskom urges all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly.”

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