All-day stage 6 load shedding is back – and Eskom warns it could get worse

3 years ago 1

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Power utility Eskom says stage 6 load shedding will be implemented continuously until further notice, following the breakdown of more generating units at its power stations.

Since Sunday afternoon, a generating unit each at Arnot, Hendrina, Lethabo and Majuba, as well as two units at Camden Power Station have suffered breakdowns and taken offline for repairs.

Further, two generating units at the Lethabo Power Station were shut down due to coal constraints as the New Vaal Mine that is supplying the station has been unable to deliver the expected amount of coal during the past week because of the heavy rains, it said.

“The three running units are operating at minimum capacity and are at risk of shutdown should the coal supply constraints not be resolved,” it said.

“Given the high number of breakdowns, there is a possibility of further changes on the stages of loadshedding at short notice. A further update will be published as soon as any significant changes occur.”

Breakdowns currently amount to 21,243MW of generating capacity while 3,566W of generating capacity is out of service for planned maintenance.

Schedules

For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:

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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