Eskom warned late on Tuesday that its generation system is “severely constrained” as the result of unplanned breakdowns at four units.

The utility didn’t mention load shedding, but it is clearly concerned that it could be forced to impose rotational blackouts at short notice if electricity demand increases further.

“We have unexpectedly lost four large units to unplanned breakdowns, while the return to service of another two generation units has been delayed,” the state-owned utility said in a statement.

Units at the Kendal, Majuba and Lethabo power stations have been affected, while a unit at Duvha and a unit at Tutuka have not returned to service as expected.

“A further Kendal unit was taken offline due to technical difficulties and to address emmissions,” Eskom said.

Eskom has 31GW available total capacity to meet demand on Tuesday night, it said.

“While we expect some units to return to service soon, this situation may persist until the weekend.”  — (c) 2020 NewsCentral Media