Pretoria - South Africa’s embattled power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will be downgraded to Stage 3 at 10pm on Wednesday night.
The power utility said it expected to implement load shedding until Friday.
This comes after six generation units have been returned online over the past 24 hours, with three more units set to return to service on Thursday, Eskom said.
The power utility said it will continue to adjust the stage of load shedding, depending on the level of breakdowns.
“A generation unit each at the Arnot and Kendal power stations returned to service during the day, adding to the two Lethabo units, and one each at Camden and Matla power stations that returned to service during the night. A unit each at the Majuba, Matimba and Arnot power stations are set to return to service by tomorrow,” said Eskom in a statement.
Eskom said the return of the generation units will boost capacity and ease the constraints ahead of the weekend
There are currently 5 787MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 259MW of capacity is unavailable due to unplanned breakdowns.
“Load shedding is implemented only as a last resort, to protect the national grid. We therefore request the public to continue using electricity sparingly, as we strive to return units to service,” said Eskom.
Eskom said it continues to closely monitor the power system.
“We will promptly inform the public should there be any significant developments,” said Eskom.
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— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) April 20, 2022
Loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 3 at 22:00, and remain in force until Friday as Eskom works on returning more units to service pic.twitter.com/uR3PR1IQV8
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