Eskom is facing an uphill battle in keeping the lights on in South Africa and in a statement released on Monday, the electricity provider warned of a possible loadshedding return this week.
Loadshedding returns this week? – Here’s what Eskom said
The state-owned power utility revealed that as of Monday, it had 4 984MW of electricity out on planned maintenance, “while another 15 514MW of capacity is unavailable due to unplanned breakdowns.”
Eskom confirmed that at least four power generation units suffered breakdowns on Monday, “while the return to service of two other units has been delayed.”
The unplanned breakdowns occurred at the following power stations:
- Matla (one unit)
- Kriel (one unit)
- Camden (two units)
By all accounts, this spells for a dark and cold week ahead for South Africa.
This, together with the inclement weather, which has increased the demand for electricity, has placed the power system under pressure. Eskom is working hard to return as many of these generation units to service as possible,” the statement read.
While, at the time of publishing this article, the power utility had not implemented loadshedding, Eskom did warn that repeated overuse of power would necessitate rotational blackouts.
“We are presently relying on the adequate levels of emergency reserves to meet the country demand which, are being carefully monitored,” Eskom said.
Moreover, by the looks of it, this latest stumble may take the entire week to deal with.
“This constrained supply situation may persist throughout the week. We will communicate should there be any significant changes to the supply situation,” the statement concluded.