Eskom confirmed that despite efforts to have a full week without rotational blackouts, stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented from 14:00 on Wednesday.
Eskom stage 2 loadshedding: Here’s what we know
The national power supplier, in a statement, indicated that at the current rate of electricity usage, the system is severely constrained, especially considering the fact that more generation units tripped on Wednesday morning.
Eskom confirmed the loss of a unit each at Medupi, Duvha and Kendal power stations this morning.
While a unit at Majuba, Kriel, and Matimba returned to service after going offline on Tuesday, there was still severe pressure placed on open-cycle gas turbines and pump storage power stations to supplement the grid during high-peak period of electricity demand.
Eskom also noted total breakdowns amounted to 15 485MW on Wednesday, with planned maintenance reduced to 4 100MW.
“We remind customers that loadshedding is implemented as a last resort to maintain stability of the power system regardless of the stage of loadshedding,” Eskom said.
De Ruyter’s forged optimism did not pay off
Eskom’s announcement of a possible return of loadshedding contradicts outlooks made by Group CEO Andre de Ruyter during last week Friday’s media briefing.
At the time, De Ruyter had positive expectations about Eskom’s ability to keep South Africa out of a loadshedding schedule this week.
“At this point in time, the prognosis is good. We have a number of units that are coming back as planned. I attended our system meeting this morning at 05:00 and I can give the assurance that our power station managers are working very hard with their teams in order to bring back those megawatts that are on outage.
“Of course, some challenges do remain… So, the outlook for next week, at this point in time is quite positive,” he said.
However, it appears the unforeseen has taken shape at Eskom’s power plants but for De Ruyter, there was always room needed for disappointment.
“These are complex units. They are very large units, difficult to operate, and we have spoken a lot about various constraints we have, in terms of procurement, and so forth, but we will take great steps to ensure that we can relieve that,” he said.
