Eskom has announced that it will implement stage 2 load-shedding from 22:00 on Saturday evening.
“Owing to an unanticipated conveyor belt failure at Medupi power station, the system is currently severely constrained and vulnerable,” Eskom stated.
The power utility said although it was working on restoring the operation of several generation units, it needs to implement load-shedding throughout the night.
Eskom claimed this was in order to replenish both the water levels at its pumped storage schemes and diesel for the open cycle gas turbines to create adequate reserve capacity before South Africans return to work in the coming week.
“While a number of units are being brought back online following repairs and maintenance, it is essential to implement stage 2 load-shedding tonight from 22:00 until 08:00 tomorrow (Sunday).”
Eskom maintained that its teams were working “tirelessly” to return units back from planned and unplanned outages.
“We will give South Africans regular updates during the course of the day tomorrow about our prognosis for the day and our recovery efforts for the week ahead,” Eskom added.
Eskom asked customers to reduce their electricity usage as part of a “concerted collective effort” to help avoid or reduce load-shedding levels.
The utility encouraged customers to check their load-shedding schedules on the Eskom website.
4 January 2020 / MyBroadband Staff Writer
MyBroadband – Original Article