Eskom likely to implement load shedding on Thursday night

With the power system under duress this morning, Eskom may implement load shedding this evening, it said on Thursday.

“While we have adequate emergency reserves to supplement capacity during the day, we may need to implement load shedding this evening in order to augment diesel and water at our open cycle gas turbines and pumped storage schemes respectively,” said the power utility.

This as the power system is under stress and the utility is using diesel generators to meet demand.

“The units that were expected to come back from maintenance were delayed, which led to diesel generators being used overnight.”

The power utility appealed to customers to reduce their demand while it worked on stabilising the power system. 

 As at 6:30, unplanned outages were at 13 063MW, slightly up from 12 620MW on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the utility is continuing with its planned maintenance schedule while teams are working around the clock to bring back on line units that experienced breakdowns.

“Keeping generation units breakages below 9 500MW is part of a plan to manage our ageing fleet and bring stability back into the power system.”

The power utility appealed to customers to reduce their demand while it worked on stabilising the power system.