The severity of power cuts in South Africa will be reduced this weekend as Eskom expects demand to drop as warmer weather invades the country.
“Due to lower demand, load shedding will be implemented at stages 1 and 3 over the weekend,” the state-owned utility, which has struggled to meet electricity demand for the past 15 years, said in a statement on Friday afternoon:
- Stage-3 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm on Friday until 5am on Saturday.
- Stage-1 load shedding will be implemented from 5am to 4pm on Saturday.
This pattern will be implemented daily until further notice, although Eskom warned it could change at short notice.
“Breakdowns are currently at 15.9GW of generating capacity, while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 4GW,” the company said.
Load shedding
Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit at Camden power station was returned to service. In the same period, a generating unit at Matla and two generating units at Camden and Kriel power stations were taken offline for repairs.
“The delay in returning to service a generating unit at Kendal and two generating units at Tutuka power stations is contributing to the current capacity constraints. Eskom teams are working tirelessly to return these generating units to service.” — © 2023 NewsCentral Media
