Eskom pushes load shedding higher as 8 units go down – here’s the schedule
Power utility Eskom says that it will have to push load shedding higher on Wednesday (19 July) after eight of its units broke down.
Load shedding will be pushed to stage 4 on Wednesday evening from 16h00 until 05h00 on Thursday; thereafter stage 3 load shedding will continue until 16h00.
This is the current plan:
Wednesday, 19 July
- Stage 1: until 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Thursday, 20 July
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Friday, 21 July
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 2: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Saturday, 22 July
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 2: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Breakdowns have increased to 19,127MW of generating capacity while the generating capacity out of
service for planned maintenance is 2,313MW.
Since Tuesday evening, two generating units at Grootvlei Power Station were returned to service.
The delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Kendal, Kriel, Matla, and two generating units
at Tutuka power stations is contributing to the current capacity constraints.
The group warned earlier this week that load shedding was likely to escalate as demand ticked higher and its reserves depleted heading into the weekend.
Data from independent energy analyst Pieter Jordaan shows that the power utility continues to operate on a ‘razor thin’ reserve, with any breakdown or bump in operations threatening to push outages higher.
While the group has managed to improve generating capacity slightly over the past month or so, much of South Africa’s load shedding relief has been delivered thanks to a drop in user demand.
This changed last week, however, when a bitter cold snap pushed energy demand to the levels projected by Eskom at the start of winter, when it warned that higher stages of load shedding were highly likely.
This resulted in stage 6 load shedding being implemented for an extended period.
Schedules
For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:
- 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.
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