Cape Town – South Africans are plunged into darkness as power utility Eskom said Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 9am today, until further notice.
According to Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha, this is due to further breakdowns and delayed returns of generating units to service.
“Due to further breakdowns and delayed returns of generating units to service, Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 9am until further notice. Eskom will publish a full statement in due course,” Mantshantsha said.
This comes less than 24 hours after the power utility implemented Stage 3 load shedding from 4pm on Tuesday until 5am today.
"Stage 2 load shedding will continue being implemented at 5am until 4pm daily until further notice. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes," he said on Tuesday.
Eskom said a generating unit each at Camden and Kendal power stations had been taken off-line for repairs over the past 24 hours.
“The delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Arnot, Kriel and Matla power stations has contributed to the capacity constraints,” Mantshantsha said.
The refuelling and maintenance outage starting this week, as well as the long-term operation project of Unit 1 of the Koeberg nuclear power station, with the October chimney failure that has forced three generation units off-line at Kusile power station, will reduce available generation capacity and significantly increase the occurrence of load shedding during the next six to 12 months.