Eskom will implement rotational national blackouts, starting at midday on Thursday and running through Friday and the entire weekend.

The state-owned electricity monopoly said on Thursday morning in a statement that the stage-2 load shedding is necessary “due to the loss of generation capacity overnight”.

“Two generation units at the Kusile power station tripped due to the failure of the main coal feed conveyor belts supplying coal to the units. In addition, a unit each at the Kriel and Duvha power stations tripped due to unforeseen breakdowns.”

Eskom said it has four generation units whose return to service from planned maintenance has been delayed.

The load shedding is also needed to manage the use of Eskom’s emergency reserves. These reserves help the company “contain the stage of load shedding required”.

“The system remains vulnerable and unpredictable, and should any further breakdowns occur, the stage of load shedding may change at short notice.”

Currently, about 14.7GW of capacity is not avaialble due to unplanned maintenance and breakdowns. — (c) 2021 NewsCentral Media