Load shedding is back as Eskom imposes stage 3 power cuts from 5pm on Friday [VIDEO]

Eskom has announced that it will be implementing stage 3 load shedding from 5pm on Friday to replenish power reserves.

Minister of Electricity Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the country has been hit by a “perfect storm”.

Ramokgopa provided an update on the country’s electricity generation performance on Friday following an announcement by the parastatal of a high risk of load shedding at short notice.

ALSO READ: Bad news as Eskom warns of high risk of load shedding at short notice

‘Perfect storm’

The warning came after more than 10 months of uninterrupted electricity supply.

The electricity minister said Eskom’s leadership was exceptionally disappointed that it had to take the step after 10 months without load shedding.

He explained that a “perfect storm” of multiple unplanned breakdowns and continued planned maintenance had resulted in the power utility depleting its emergency generation reserves in the past week.

“We’ve got hit by a perfect storm. So, what is that perfect storm? We’ve had units out for planned maintenance. But we had the situation where two of our best-performing power stations, Matimba and Lethabo, had a number of units failing at the beginning of the week. Other units were also delayed in coming back online.

“So as a result, for most of the week, we had to rely on our open cycle gas turbines (OCGT), essentially we were burning diesel,” Ramokgopa said.

Watch: Kgosientsho Ramokgopa announces the return of load shedding

[WATCH] Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa explains why Eskom had to implement #Loadshedding after 7 days of burning diesel following the tripping of units at Matimba and Lethabo as well as delays of units in service elsewhere. pic.twitter.com/Cf7it2LUj2

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‘Setback’

Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said load shedding returning is 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.

Eskom said its summer outlook remains unchanged.

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