Eskom extends load shedding until Sunday evening
Eskom has announced that stage 2 load shedding will continue until 23h00 on Sunday evening (14 March).
The power utility said that it has to extend the power cuts due to the loss of further generation capacity and to replenish emergency generation reserves. The country has faced continuous load shedding since 17h00 on Wednesday (10 March).
“Regrettably, the implementation of stage 2 load-shedding will be extended to 23h00 on Sunday as the generation capacity is severely constrained,” Eskom said.
“Over the past 24 hours, further breakdowns occurred at three power stations, putting further strain on the generation capacity.”
The breakdowns occurred at the Kriel, Medupi, and Kendal power stations, which resulted in generation units being taken offline for various faults.
Eskom added that “emerging risks” at other power stations have contributed to the power generation constraints.
“While Eskom used the load-shedding of the past two days to replenish the emergency generation reserves, we have had to utilise the emergency reserves to supplement supply,” it said.
“This period of load-shedding will be used to replenish the emergency generation reserves.”
Eskom currently has 7,071MW on planned maintenance with another 11,780MW of capacity being unavailable due to breakdowns and delays in restoring them.
Stage 2 loadshedding will be extended to 23:00 on Sunday following the loss of further
generation capacity and to replenish emergency generation reserves pic.twitter.com/XtQ2MFtSaV— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) March 12, 2021
For those living in the major metros, they can check to see when they will be affected:
- City of Johannesburg
- City of Ekurhuleni
- City of Tshwane
- City of Cape Town (PDF)
- Nelson Mandela Bay
- eThekwini
- Manguang
- Buffalo City
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.
Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.
Read: South Africa spends 10% of the year load shedding – and it could get worse
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