Load shedding suspended this weekend

Eskom has delivered a rare glimmer of good news for the weekend – load shedding will be suspended at midnight on Friday.

Stage 2 load shedding will remain until 4pm on Friday, after which it will increase to stage 3.

Load shedding will however return on Monday.

The utility also said it would publish a “further update” on Sunday afternoon, “or as soon as there are any significant changes”.

“Since Thursday morning, Eskom teams have returned a generating unit each at Arnot, Kendal, Kriel and two units at Tutuka power stations”.

There are currently 6 234MW on planned maintenance, with 13 779MW of unavailable electricity due to breakdowns.

Another 18 months of darkness

South Africans will likely suffer from load shedding for at least another 12 to 18 months, Eskom Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer said earlier this month.

The country 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,” Oberholzer explained.

Diversifying energy

Eskom has finally heeded the call to explore alternative energy generation solutions, after an announcement was made on Friday that four independent power producers (IPP) have been allocated land to construct clean energy plants.

The IPPs, HDF Energy South Africa, Red Rocket SA, Sola Group and Mainstream Renewable Power Developments South Africa, are expected to pump an estimated 2 000MW to the ailing national electricity grid.

Land on Eskom’s Mpumalanga power stations, Majuba and Tutuka, will be used for the clean energy projects.

They are expected to be connected to the grid within the next two to three years, Eskom said.

Compiled by Nica Richards. Additional reporting by Faizel Patel and Nica Richards.