Eskom shifts to Stage 4 load shedding as further units fail
Eskom announced this morning that it will be implementing Stage 4 load shedding from 9am on Wednesday until 5am on Friday due to further failures of its generation units overnight.
Source: Galina Peshkova © 123RF.com
Load shedding will thereafter be lowered to Stage 2 until 5am on Monday.
"Overnight, a unit each at Kendal, Duvha, Camden and Kusile power stations tripped. Since then, we have returned four units to service. However, these units still need to ramp up to full output, which necessitates a high usage of emegency generation reserves today. This being the fourth day of extremely high diesel usage, the emergency reserves are being depleted faster than can be replenished.
"Stage 4 load shedding will therefore give us the space required to replenish the emergency reserves and continue to manage the system safely," Eskom said in a statement released this morning.
Total breakdowns amount to 15,4398MW while planned maintenance is 5,505MW of capacity.
