Eskom ramps up load shedding to stage 6 until further notice

Eskom has ramped up load shedding to stage 6 until further notice due to multiple unit trips at the Camden Power Station in Mpumalanga.

The parastatal’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, made the announcement in the early hours of Sunday morning,

Stage 6

Mokwena said stage 6 load shedding was implemented at 1:30 a.m. and will continue until further notice.

“Eskom regrets to announce that stage 6 load shedding was implemented at 1:30 am due to multiple unit trips at Camden Power Station and will continue until further notice.

“This measure followed the implementation of Stage 3, necessitated by multiple unit trips at Majuba Power Station and a unit trip at Medupi that resulted in a loss of 3 864 MW in generation capacity, while planned maintenance accounted for 7 506 MW. Additionally, to replenish emergency reserves and prepare for the week ahead, stage 6 load shedding was essential,” Mokwena said.

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Update

Mokwena added that a media briefing will be held on Sunday at 11 am to provide more details and updates on the power system.

The last time the country was at stage 6 load shedding was in February 2024.

‘End of load shedding’

After another bout of rolling blackouts for two days on 31 January and 1 February, energy analysts warned that the uninterrupted electricity supply in South Africa was still far away.

At the time, Professor Sampson Mamphweli and Tshepo Mahlaba, pointed to the unpredictability of Eskom’s old power stations.

However, Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said that the return of load shedding was a “potentially temporary setback”.

“Load shedding is largely behind us due to the structural improvements in our generation fleet. However, over the past seven days, we have experienced several breakdowns that require extended repair times. This has necessitated the use of all our emergency reserves, which now need to be replenished,” Marokane said.

‘Perfect storm’

Minister of Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa also blamed a “perfect storm” for that bout of rolling blackouts.

He said multiple unplanned breakdowns, in addition to continued planned maintenance, resulted in Eskom depleting its emergency generation reserves.

Milestone

Eskom reached 300 days without implementing load shedding in early January – a milestone not seen since June 2018.

The parastatal has shown vast improvement since the implementation of the Energy Action Plan in July 2022, including the introduction of its own Generation Recovery Plan in March 2023.

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