More load-shedding for the weekend

Eskom says breakdowns of five generating units overnight, two of which have returned to service, have worsened generation capacity shortages that escalated load-shedding on Thursday morning.

“Two generation units at Kendal and one at Kusile power stations were taken offline for repairs,” the power utility said.

Since this morning, generation units at Arnot and Kriel power stations have returned to service.

Stage 3 load-shedding will continue until 5am on Friday and from 4pm on Friday until 5am on Saturday.

The power utility said stage 2 load-shedding will then be implemented from 5am on Saturday until 5am on Monday.

Eskom has 5,146MW on planned maintenance, while another 16,434MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

“Load-shedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns,” it said.

Eskom said it will publish an update on Sunday or as soon as significant changes occur.

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