More darkness ahead as Eskom announces stage 3 and 4 load shedding for next week

South Africans will have to endure load shedding until at least Thursday after Eskom announced that stage 3 will continue between 12am and 4pm, with stage 4 kicking in from 4pm to midnight.

“A further update will be published on Wednesday afternoon, or as soon as there are any significant changes,” Eskom said in a statement on Sunday.

It said it has 5 897MW on planned maintenance, while another 16 739MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

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Diesel shortage

Eskom said it said it is still experiencing constraints from its diesel suppliers, which is affecting the availability of bulk diesel at the Ankerlig and Gourikwa Open Cycle Gas Turbines.The two turbines have a combined capacity of 2 000MW.

“While we expect diesel deliveries from Tuesday onwards, should this uncertainty of supply persist, higher stages of loadshedding may be required,” the power utility said.

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Eskom added that while it is expecting some generation units to return to service, load shedding is necessary to conserve emergency generation reserves.

Camden and Kriel power stations

The power utility also said that since Friday a generation unit each at Camden and Kriel power stations were taken offline for repairs. Another generating unit each at Kriel and Kusile power stations were returned to service.

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