Eskom to suspend load shedding during weekend

The power utility has announced that load shedding will be suspended from midnight on Friday.

The ailing parastatal said the the deliberate power cuts were halted due to a lower weekend demand.

ALSO READ: Another 18 months of load shedding on the cards

Update

The power utility’s spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said Eskom will publish a further update on Sunday afternoon, or as soon as any significant changes occur.

“Since Wednesday evening, a generation unit each at Arnot and Majuba power stations were returned to service while a generating unit each at Duvha, Hendrina, Lethabo and Tutuka power stations were taken offline for repairs.”

#POWERALERT1

Due to lower weekend demand, loadshedding will be suspended at midnight on Friday. pic.twitter.com/DBgf8qgV0a

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) October 14, 2022

Available capacity

“We currently have 5 254MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 190MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns. Load shedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns,” Mantshatsha said.

Kusile Unit 5

Meanwhile Mantshantsha has told The Citizen that Kusile unit 5 has not yet been connected to the national grid after Eskom experienced a fire on the Gas Air Heater of the unit.

It is understood that there is extensive damage to Kusile unit 5, the root cause of which has not been fully established yet.

According to Eskom, the incident is similar to a fire that occurred on Kusile unit 2 while it was being commissioned in 2015/6.

Back to service

Mantshantsha said the units will only be back online next year.

“Kusile unit 5 has not yet been connected to the grid. It is still under construction, and was meant to be connected May/June 2023. Commercial operation was planned for early 2024. This will obviously be delayed, and it has not been established how long the delay will be.”

“So it has not been contributing to electricity,” Mantshantsha said.

Mantshantsha added when unit 5 is brought back online, it will contribute 720MW to the national grid.

Another 18 months of load shedding 

This is not the end of load shedding.

South Africans will suffer from load shedding for at least another 12 to 18 months.

This was the dark and grim picture Eskom Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer painted at Thursday’s annual Agri-SA congress in Pretoria.

Oberholzer said South Africa would not be able to end the deliberate power cuts until sufficient generating capacity was added to the electricity grid to meet demand.

“In terms of load shedding, I believe it’s here to stay for a period. Up until we have the additional capacity that we can fulfil the demand of the country, while at the same time we can give that respect to the plant and maintain it properly, we are going to sit with challenging situations.”

ALSO READ: Infographic: January only load shedding free month in 2022