ESKOM has confirmed the possibility of load shedding this evening (Thursday) as the power system is under stress owing to an increase in unplanned outages and a delay in units coming back from maintenance.
This led to diesel generators being used overnight last night, which has resulted in insufficient emergency reserves to supplement capacity tonight.
‘We may need to implement load shedding this evening in order to augment diesel and water at our open cycle gas turbines and pumped storage schemes respectively,’ said Eskom.
‘We are continuing with our planned maintenance schedule while our teams are working around the clock to bring back on line units that experienced breakdowns.’
Attempting to keep breakages of generation units below 9 500MW is part of Eskom’s plan of managing its ageing fleet and bring stability to the power system.
As of this morning, breakdowns were at 13 063MW.
Tips to save electricity:
- Use the cold water tap
- Fill kettles with only as much water as is needed
- Set air conditioners’ average temperature to 23 degrees C
- Turn off computers, copiers and printers at the switch
- Avoid standby or sleep mode on electronic devices including TVs
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