Will load shedding be lifted this weekend?

There is a slight chance of Eskom lifting load shedding this weekend, however, the final verdict will be only known to the public at 5pm this afternoon.

Eskom implemented stage 2 load shedding on Wednesday, due to power trips at various power stations and a shortage of generation capacity.

Eskom‘s management team held a media briefing to update the country on the current system challenges.

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The power utility touched based on the recovery of dams, full availability of diesel reserves and the recovery of Kusile power station.

Earlier this week, one unit at Kusile and another and Kendal power stations tripped. This, combined with the return of units at Kusile, Tutuka, Duvha, Lethabo and Grootvlei power stations contributed to current supply constraints. 

“We have recovered our dams, they are essentially full. We have a few pumping hours remaining at our three major pump storage schemes. We will make that up during the day and also overnight. But essentially our pump storage reserves have recovered”, Eskom Chief Executive André de Ruyter said.

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De Ruyter reports that Eskom was now in a better position than it was earlier this week when the decision to implement load shedding was made.

“We will have a look at 17:00, this afternoon, then we will make a decision (to lift load shedding)”, Chief Operations Officer Jan Oberholzer said.

Although the systems have improved positively, Oberholzer said Eskom should not put their eggs in one basket just because Kusile’s improved performance.

Oberholzer warned there was still a probability for breakdowns.

Load shedding: Dark weekend ahead – Here’s when the lights go off today

Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 11am on Wednesday, due to a shortage of generation capacity, Eskom announced this morning. 

This, the utility said, was due to the breakdowns of two more generating units that occurred during the night. 

Efforts to use emergency reserves have been in vain, as these have now been depleted and need to be replenished, Eskom explained. 

The latest bout of load shedding, which is scheduled until 5am on Monday, will be utilised to “replenish the emergency reserves”. 

Eskom on Tuesday warned that any further loss of generation capacity will result in load shedding.

Any updates from Eskom will be published as information is made available.

Additional information by Citizen Reporter

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