South Africa’s power utility supplier Eskom has announced that loadshedding will be on Stage 2 until 11pm today as capacity remains confined. The power company has added that the likelihood for more blackouts remained high.
“Load shedding has been reduced to Stage 2 as we have made good progress in the system recovery largely as a result of several units being returned to service and the recovery from localised flooding at our power stations.”
Eskom introduced Stage 4 loadshedding yesterday after announcing a drastic move to Stage 6 on Monday.
The power utility is still using diesel for its open cycle gas turbines and water at pumped storage schemes to supplement capacity.
According to Eskom:
“As the generating plant continues to perform at low levels of reliability, any unexpected shift such as an increase in unplanned breakdowns could result in a change in the load shedding stage at short notice.”
Eskom said it aimed to reduce breakdowns to below 9500MW to minimize and it had effectively managed to resolve localised flooding at some power stations which meant several units had been returned.
The power supplier has urged customers to use power sparingly to help resolve or avoid loadshedding entirely.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has cut short his trip to Egypt to come and meet with the power utility so as to map a way forward and mitigate the severe power outages.
Eskom had to apologize for introducing Stage 6 loadshedding on Monday without any prior warning to citizens. The power company said the move had been implemented due to the high rate of generating unit breakdowns.
More: Cape Argus