Load shedding: Lights will be on for Easter, but blackouts could continue next week

While plans are still on track to suspend rolling blackouts at 05:00 on Friday morning, Eskom warned on Thursday morning that a unit each at the Kusile and Kendal power stations tripped over the past 24 hours.

The power utility has urged the public to continue using electricity sparingly in an effort to help replenish the emergency generation reserves in anticipation of the coming week.

Eskom said the planned suspension of load shedding is due, in part, to the lower demand expected over the weekend, but warned of the possibility that load shedding will need to be implemented during next week as the demand returns.

“The Kusile unit has returned to service this morning, together with one of the previously delayed Camden power station units. Eskom will undertake opportunity maintenance during the low demand weekend to address some risk on running units,” the power utility said in a statement.

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Water will also be pumped into the river system from the Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme during the weekend in order to relieve the capacity constraints that have been created by the heavy rains.

There is currently 6 042MW available on planned maintenance, while another 14 471MW of capacity is unavailable due to unplanned breakdowns.

Eskom Group Chief Executive, André de Ruyter will hold a Virtual Media Briefing on Thursday morning to provide an update on the current system challenges.