Why stage 4 load shedding is still going – and when it will end
Update: Eskom says that load shedding will be reduced to stage 2 on Sunday.
Load shedding will be reduced to Stage 2 from 05h00 on Sunday until 16h00.
Thereafter, Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 16h00 until 05h00 on Monday.
This is a result of the anticipated recovery of emergency reserves overnight, and the two generating units expected to return to service by Sunday.
Original: Power utility Eskom says that stage 4 load shedding will remain in effect until further notice – with hopes that things will improve by Sunday.
The utility explained that a loss of five generating units on Thursday required an escalation to stage 4 load shedding, which remains in force.
According to Eskom, the events that led to the loss of generating capacity at Kendal Power Station units are as follows:
- Kendal Unit 1 was taken offline on Wednesday at 20h00 due to leaking safety valves, which caused the capacity of the demineralised water storage tanks to run low.
- While recovering the storage water tanks, a contamination incident occurred in the water treatment plant, necessitating the isolation of the plant to investigate the root cause.
- During this period of investigation, the level of auxiliary cooling water, which also uses demineralised water, ran low.
- This led to capacity loss from four generating units at 2h00 in the morning.
The utility said that its teams have returned the first unit back into service, and two more are planned to be returned on Sunday, 25 February 2024.
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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