SA must brace for daily power outages this week as Eskom starts stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 5 am to 4 pm on Monday, after which stage 5 load shedding will shroud the evening hours until 5 am the following day.
This rhythm is set to continue until further notice, according to Eskom‘s power alert on Sunday.
But why, I hear you ask?
11 units offline
On Sunday, Eskom confirmed that two generating units were taken offline, and nine units failed to return to service.
Generating units at Matla and Tutuka power stations have suffered breakdowns while further delays resulted in the delay of service of units at:
Arnot: one unit offline
Hendrina: one unit offline
Kendal: one unit offline
Kriel: one unit offline
Lethabo: one unit offline
Matimba: one unit offline
Tutuka: one unit offline
Camden: two units offline
That means a total of 11 generating units are currently out of service, and Eskom is grappling with 18 144 MW lost of breakdowns.
Another 3 427 MW is out of commission for planned maintenance.
Four units restored
But every cloud has a silver lining, I guess?
Eskom said over the past 24 hours, it successfully reactivated a generation unit at each of the Arnot, Camden, Kendal, and Palmiet power stations.
Eskom said technicians are attending to breakdowns and updates will be shared on official channels if the situation changes.
