Load shedding is back, stage 2 to kick in Wednesday and Thursday

After almost two weeks without the rolling blackouts, Eskom will be implementing stage 2 load shedding from 4pm until 12am on Wednesday and Thursday.

The dark lords of Megawatt Park say the deliberate power cuts are due to a shortage of generation capacity.

Eskom spokesperson, Sikonathi Mantshantsha, says the parastatal will promptly communicate any further significant changes.

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“The delay in returning a generation unit to service each at Arnot, Koeberg and the Kusile power stations, as well as the unplanned outage of a generation unit each at Camden, Medupi and two units each at Grootvlei, Hendrina and Majuba power stations, have exacerbated the capacity constraints.”

“Some generation units are anticipated to return to service over the next few days. We currently have 2 931MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 051MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns,” Mantshantsha said.

Eskom has reminded the public that load shedding is implemented only as a last resort to protect the national grid. We, therefore, urge all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly especially during these uncertain times on the power system.

Last month, the dark lords of Megawatt Park said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s elaborate reforms to tackle South Africa’s energy crisis will accelerate the end of load shedding.

ALSO READ: Eskom hopeful that Ramaphosa’s reforms will end load shedding

The power utility welcomed the announcement of further reforms and is in full support of measures announced by Ramaphosa to address the long-running electricity crisis.

Mantshantsha said these reforms will go a long way towards easing the power generation constraints the country has been grappling with for about 14 years.

“The reforms will accelerate the end of load shedding, and will expand and grow the electricity generation industry in South Africa through structural changes.”

Mantshantsha also said Eskom is also pleased that the government had taken steps to empower the parastatal to acquire additional generation capacity from existing independent power producers (IPP), as well as the spares and equipment from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the resources to increase the funding of the maintenance budget.