Eskom load shedding

Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter said they were hoping to ease load shedding by Wednesday. The country is currently on Stage 6.

“By Thursday, we will start phasing down the stages. He said they were intending to return units at Lethabo and Camden to service at least by the end of the week. “The three running units are operating at minimum capacity and are at risk of shutdown should the coal supply constraints not be resolved,” Eskom said in a statement.

Eskom loses half of its power-generating capacity, opening risks for longer cuts which will entail more than half the day with no electricity.

The three running units are operating at minimum capacity and are at risk of shutdown should the coal supply constraints not be resolved,” Eskom said. These facilities can restore energy to a power station and help the network recover from a shutdown. Eskom uses the rotational power cuts to maintain a balance between demand and power generated. However, De Ruyter said Eskom would ensure that approximately 1 628MW of generation capacity — currently offline for repairs — was returned to the system by winter. Eskom reported breakdowns amounting to 21 243MW of power, close to half of the installed capacity of its 48 000MW, which is the amount of electricity it can produce. It said the power station’s three running units were at risk of shutting down if coal supply constraints were not resolved.

South Africa is facing stage six load shedding as more than half of Eskom's capacity is offline.

He adds that load shedding is projected to increase in winter, and they are projecting a 50% likelihood of us seeing stage 8 load shedding from July onwards. “That was not exactly announced today, they said that they are reviewing the process and that the process is underway, but I am pretty sure we will see a stage 10 coming shortly on the load shedding schedule.” He says that we could also see stage 10 added to load shedding schedules, though we might not experience stage 10 this year

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says Stage 6 load shedding is expected to be implemented until Wednesday evening which will be followed by Stage 4 on Thursday ...

At Medupi [power station] unit 4, we had a catastrophic hydrogen explosion…that is scheduled to return to service in September 2024,” he said. We appeal to the public to use electricity sparingly. “[By Monday afternoon] we had full losses of 12 318MW which is extremely high and the reason for Stage 6 load shedding. “We are looking at Lethabo [power station] unit 4, 5 and 2 and also a unit at Camden [power station]. That flue collapsed…and gave rise to units two and three's flues also collapsing. That will significantly alleviate the current constraint we face in terms of generation capacity and will reduce the risk.

The current energy availability factor is just over 53%, and Eskom's board ambitiously sought to raise it to 60% by the end of the financial year, ...