Durban - Power utility Eskom has announced Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented this weekend owing to a continued shortage of generation capacity.
Load shedding will be implemented between 4pm and midnight on Saturday and Sunday.
Eskom said it would promptly communicate any further significant changes.
Eskom said the capacity constraints had been exacerbated by the delay in returning a generation unit to service each at Koeberg, Kusile and Tutuka power stations.
“In addition, there have been unplanned breakdowns of a generation unit each at Camden and Medupi, two at Hendrina and four units at Arnot power stations.”
Eskom said some generation units were anticipated to return to service over the next few days.
“We currently have 3 571MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 624MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
“This load shedding will also assist in recovering emergency generation reserves, which have been utilised extensively to meet demand over the last few days.”
The power utility reminded consumers that load shedding was implemented only as a last resort to protect the national grid and urged them to use electricity sparingly.
Stage 2 is currently being implement and is expected to end at midnight.
IOL