Load shedding to be eased to stage 2 from 5am on Tuesday

Eskom has announced that load shedding will be downgraded from stage 4 to stage 2 from 5 a.m. on Tuesday until further notice. 

The parastatal has gradually reduced the rolling blackouts after ramping up load shedding to stage 6 during the very early hours of Sunday morning.

Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said they have managed to recover several generation units.

Generation units

“The decision to ease the rolling blackouts the successful recovery of eight out of ten generation units and the restoration of 3 808MW from units that tripped over the weekend, with an additional 1 146MW expected to be recovered overnight.

“While the recovery of the emergency reserves is progressing well, further replenishment is required to reach sufficient levels, Mokwena said.

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Unplanned outages

Mokwena said the developments support Eskom’s ongoing efforts to stabilise the power supply and “ensure reliability”.

“Currently, unplanned outages are at 13 690MW, which is 690MW higher than our summer outlook base case of 13 000MW. Ongoing planned maintenance stands at 7 245MW, in alignment with our summer period maintenance strategy, that is at increased levels in order to prepare for winter and meet licence and regulatory requirements.”

Mokwena said the parastatal will provide the next update on Tuesday or as soon as any significant changes occur.

The end

On Monday, Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said load shedding should be suspended by the weekend.

“We’ve made tremendous progress since Saturday night. By yesterday, we had brought eight of the 10 units back. Now, we are building up stock on the fuel for the open cycle gas turbines. We have some more units coming back in the course of today.”

“Our prognosis is that by the end of the week, we should be out of this. We are, of course, meeting, following and tracking every eight hours or so, and we will keep the public informed,” Marokane said.

ALSO READ: Eskom ramps up load shedding to stage 6 until further notice