Load shedding now at stage 4

In a statement on Friday afternoon Eskom said loadshedding, which was announced at stage 2 in the morning, had progressed to stage 4. The situation is expected to continue until 6am on Saturday. However the utility has warned that further power cuts are possible over the weekend.

Eskom said it lost additional generation units on Friday morning and as units had not returned to service as scheduled, unavailable capacity increased to about 13 000MW. “This with a higher demand of about 1000MW, necessitates loadshedding to move up from Stage 2 to Stage 4 from 14:00 today.”

The struggling power utility said it continue to use diesel and water resources at its open cycle gas turbines and pumped storage schemes respectively, to supplement capacity.

It added that with the incessant rain, it is starting to experience coal-handling problems at a number of power stations due to wet coal, resulting in generation units being unable to produce power.

“If the wet weather persists, we are likely to implement loadshedding throughout the weekend.”

Stage 4 calls for 4000MW to be rotationally loadshed nationally.

Read: Why the lights went out last night

On Thursday morning, Eskom advised that unplanned breakdowns were at a worryingly high 12 300MW.

It extended power cuts on Thursday from 23h00 to 05h00. on Friday, as a result of further unplanned breakdowns, critically low water levels at its pumped storage schemes and as it had to manage its diesel reserves.

#POWERALERT 2

Date: 06 December 2019

Stage 2 rotational loadshedding moves up to Stage 4 from 14:00 today.

@@News24 @CityPowerJhb @City_Ekurhuleni @CityTshwane @CityofCT @eThekwiniM @CityofJoburgZA @TrafficSA @ewnupdates @SABCNewsOnline @SAfmRadio @IOL pic.twitter.com/nLz28JARPg

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) December 6, 2019