Eskom: Stage 4 load shedding continues into weekend

Residents can expect more scheduled blackouts as Eskom confirms Stage 4 loadshedding will continue through Thursday, Friday and into the weekend.

The power utility has issued another statement, a change in direction after it said Stage 2 would resume on Friday.

Stage 4 will continue to be implemented throughout the week, with possibilities of lower stages of loadshedding on the weekend.

“Eskom teams are working around the clock to return units to service, but in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to carry out unplanned maintenance to return units to service, we, unfortunately, have to implement loadshedding as a last resort,” Eskom said.

The extension of Stage 4 is required due to further breakdowns of a generation unit at Kendal and Majuba on Wednesday morning due to boiler tube leaks.

“The breakdowns during the past few days of three generating units each at Kendal and Tutuka power stations as well as the delayed return of a unit at Camden Power Station contribute to the capacity constraints.

The power utility will continue planned maintenance to address risks at Arnot, Kriel, Matimba, Matla and Camden power stations.

“It is necessary to extend the loadshedding to replenish the emergency generation reserves, which have been depleted by extensive utilization over the past week.”

Eskom currently operates at 5 209MW on planned maintenance with another 16 669 MW of capacity unavailable due to breakdowns.

Three Kendal generation units tripped on Tuesday, a reason for the upward shift in loadshedding stages.

This resulted in Eskom’s plan to implement Stage 4 until 5 am on Thursday.

A conveyor belt feeding coal into Kendal Power Station failed to conserve coal, and lead to a massive reduction of output generatiors.

“To conserve coal the power output of the generators was reduced but this required fuel oil to be used to sustain the boiler combustion.

This was followed by the failure of a fuel oil plant supplying the units.

“This resulted in the trip of the three generating units. The Kendal units are anticipated to return to service by the weekend.”

Also read: Eskom moves to stage 4 after generation units trip

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