Eskom ramps up load shedding to stage 4 indefinitely

Ailing state-owned entity Eskom has ramped up load shedding to stage 4.

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said there have been a number of breakdowns.

“Due to further breakdowns and delayed returns of generating units to service, stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 9am until further notice. Eskom will publish a full statement in due course.”

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Load shedding

The parastatal ramped up the deliberate power cuts after implementing stage 3 on Tuesday, citing breakdowns of several generating units.

“A generating unit each at Arnot, Duvha, Grootvlei, Kendal, Kriel, Lethabo, and two units at Majuba power stations were returned to service during this period,” Eskom said in a statement.

Money for diesel

Meanwhile, Eskom has asked National Treasury for R19.5 billion to buy diesel.

The parastatal has spent R11 billion on diesel in the 10 months through October and warned in November that load shedding could intensify if it runs out of funds to buy the fuel.

Due to the depletion of its budget to acquire diesel for the open cycle gas turbines, it was forced to conserve the rest of its fuel reserves to protect against further unplanned outages, Eskom said on Tuesday.

Load shedding for a year

South Africans will experience load shedding for at least another year, Mantshantsha said last week.

“The refuelling and maintenance outage starting this week, as well as the long-term operation project of Unit 1 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, together with the October chimney failure that has forced three generation units offline at Kusile Power Station, will further reduce available generation capacity and significantly increase the occurrence of load shedding during the next six to 12 months,” he said.

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