By Kaya 959 Reporter
Get set for more loadshedding this week. Eskom announced on Sunday that loadshedding is expected to continue until Saturday at 5am.
Eskom says this is due to the ongoing insufficient generation capacity and the inability to replenish emergency reserves over the past weekend.
“Despite the implementation of Stage 2 loadshedding, the events on Friday and Saturday have required extensive use of emergency generating reserves, hampering the recovery of the dam levels at the pumped storage power stations and depleting already low diesel levels.
“Since the power system remains volatile and unpredictable, higher stages of loadshedding may be required,” Eskom says.
Eskom adds that on Saturday there was a major incident in Zambia that affected the entire Southern African Power Pool.
It says during this incident the imported power from Cahora Bassa was reduced by 1 000MW. A Tutuka generator also tripped.
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Further delays
Furthermore, officials were forced to shut down a unit at Tutuka power station. There were also further delays in returning a unit each at Lethabo and Majuba power stations.
“On Sunday, a unit each at Medupi and Matla power stations tripped. The high usage of Open Cycle Gas Turbines over the past two weeks has resulted in limited diesel stock being available.
“Bulk diesel supply for the OCGT power stations is expected in mid-November,” Eskom says.
The power utility says total breakdowns currently amount to 16 693MW while planned maintenance is 5 769MW of capacity.
Eskom teams successfully returned two of the three generators at Kendal Power Station. The station was shut down on Friday due to coal constraints.
“A unit each at Lethabo and Majuba power station was returned to service from boiler tube leak repairs. A total of 12 generating units with a combined capacity of 5 271MW are expected to return to service during the week.
“We remind customers that loadshedding is implemented as a last resort to maintain the stability of the power system regardless of the stage of loadshedding,” Eskom says.
Eskom has asked the public to reduce the usage of electricity in order to help through the constraints.
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