Load shedding update: ‘Stages will be more erratic,’ warns Eskom

Eskom said on Friday afternoon stage 4 rotational power cuts will remain in place, adding that “stages of load shedding will be more erratic”.

Eskom is facing two major challenges at the moment: an increase in unplanned breakdowns, and not enough money to spend on diesel for generating emergency reserves.

Erratic load shedding

The power utility said it experienced “high levels of breakdowns on Friday which depleted emergency generation reserves”.

Diesel generation capacity

Since there is now no buffer (usually provided by diesel generation capacity), the stage of load shedding will become more erratic.

Eskom’s capacity was in a terrible state due to a lack of funds for diesel, Eskom group chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer said during a briefing earlier this week.

The power utility already spent R11.2 billion on open-cycle gas turbines, as of the end of October 2022.

Oberholzer said the power utility used more diesel than anticipated.

“There is no money to burn diesel anymore,” he added.

Eskom is, therefore, now trying to burn “as little as possible diesel to preserve resources”.

Unplanned breakdowns on Friday

One generating unit was taken down at the Kendal power station, and another unit at Kriel.

In addition, four other power stations – Arnot, Grootvlei, Hendrina, and Tutuka – are experiencing delays in returning units to service.

One unit each had returned to service at Tutka, Kriel and Camden, while two units returned to service at Majuba.

Eskom said: “We currently have 4 887 MW on planned maintenance while another 15 320 MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns”.

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Stage 4 load shedding

This announcement follows after the power utility implemented stage 4 load shedding on Friday morning. Earlier, Eskom announced a rotational schedule of stage 2 and 3.

The country was ramped up to stage 3 due to a number of breakdowns and issues, according to Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha.

Mantshantsha said stage 4 was implemented from 5:26am on Friday morning until further notice.

“Breakdowns amounting to 17 056MW of generation capacity, low pumped storage dam levels and lack of diesel are the reasons for the increase in load shedding”, Eskom said.

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