South Africa: Eskom Begs South Africans To Put Off Non-Essential Appliances As It Implements Stage 6 Load Shedding Indefinitely

South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, has announced that it will, on Tuesday, escalate stage ‘6’ load shedding indefinitely.

In a statement on Monday, Eskom said the stage ‘6’ load shedding will be implemented from 05:00 on Tuesday and will only publish an update should any significant changes occur.

Giving reasons for the indefinite load shedding, Eskom attributed the development to an increase in generation planned maintenance as well as the loss of a further two generation units on Monday.

Eskom added that a further two units at Lethabo and Matla power stations would need to be shut down for urgent repairs.

Eskom noted that breakdowns are currently at 16,210MW of generating capacity while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 5,894MW.

“Since Sunday, a generating unit each at Kriel and Medupi power stations was taken offline for repairs.

“In the same period, a generating unit at Arnot, Kendal, Kriel and Lethabo power stations was returned to service.

“The delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Hendrina and Tutuka power stations is also contributing to the current capacity constraints,” Eskom said.

Eskom assured that its teams are working tirelessly to return these generating units to service.

The power utility said its forecast for the evening peak demand is 28,603MW and appealed to the public to continue reducing demand by switching off non-essential appliances.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com