Eskom says it has been hit by a major setback after losing additional capacity at its Medupi power station.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Friday morning (18 October),\u00a0the power utility said that late last night it lost capacity at Medupi 3, 4 and 5 due to coal and ash handling issues.<\/p>\n
This is in addition to the conveyer belt that failed on Saturday (12 October) at the power station, it said.<\/p>\n
“This means that the power system has deteriorated further creating an additional shortage of about generation capacity of 1,500MW. As a result, we will regrettably maintain Stage 2 load shedding for the greater part of today.<\/p>\n
“We understand the negative impact this will have on our customers, in particular, our matriculants who are writing exams this morning.<\/p>\n
“In order to lessen the disruption on exams, will be implementing Stage 1 load shedding from 9h00 until 12h00 midday and thereafter revert to stage 2 load shedding until 23h00.”<\/p>\n
Eskom apologised to its\u00a0customers and South Africans for the short notification.<\/p>\n
“We will keep South Africans informed about the status and our recovery efforts throughout this period,” it said.<\/p>\n