Power utility Eskom says that load shedding will be pushed up to stage 4 on Thursday (30 March) as the grid comes under more pressure.
Stage 2 load shedding will continue as planned from 16h00 on Wednesday through to Thursday morning, thereafter, stage 3 load shedding will be implemented.
This will be followed by stage 4 load shedding on Thursday evening until Friday morning, where stage 3 will continue into the weekend.
The schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, 29 March
- Stage 1: until 16h00
- Stage 2: 16h00 to 00h00
Thursday, 30 March
- Stage 2: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 4: 16h00 to 00h00
Friday, 31 March
- Stage 4: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 3: 05h00 to 00h00
Saturday, 1 April
- Stage 3: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 2: 05h00 to 00h00
Sunday, 2 April
- Stage 2: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 1: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 2: 16h00 to 00h00
Eskom said that breakdowns are currently at 15,089MW of generating capacity, while generating capacity out of service due to planned maintenance increased to 7,147MW.
Over the past 24 hours, a generation unit was returned to service at Duvha Power Station.
In the same period, a generating unit each at Lethabo, Kendal and Kriel were taken offline for repairs.
The delays in returning a unit to service at Hendrina, Medupi, and two units at Tutuka have added to the capacity constraints, Eskom said.
Five Open Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs) at Ankerlig Power Station were taken out of service this morning for a planned upgrade of their control system.
A delay in completing maintenance at Eskom’s sole nuclear power station is worrying as South Africa heads into winter, when electricity demand increases, according to Alan Winde, premier of the Western Cape province.
Work on the Koeberg plant north of Cape Town has stalled and is running weeks late, adding to energy shortages that have led to daily power cuts to protect the system from a complete blackout.
The stations was initially expected to be back up and running in June in time for winter; however, this has now been pushed back as far as September.
This means that pressure will be on Eskom’s grid during the winter months, with analysts warning that load shedding will be escalated – possibly beyond the schedules currently available.
Analysis earlier this month from Virtual Energy and Power director Clyde Mallinson showed that South Africans are in store for a cold, dark winter, warning that Eskom must lift the coal fleet’s capacity factor (CF) to at least 50% to prevent high levels of load-shedding over the winter months.
If the power utility is unable to do so, the country will likely see upwards of stage 6 load shedding during peak winter in June.
The analyst pointed out the Eskom’s coal fleet managed to only operate at 40% CF in February – if this was the same in June, load shedding would have to be pushed up to stage 11, a level that does not yet exist on the available schedules.
Eskom is currently working with Nersa to determine new load shedding schedules.
Schedules
For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.
Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.
Read: Load shedding warning: South Africa is in for a cold, dark winter
