DURBAN – Stop what you're doing and charge your phone, power bank and laptop. In fact, make yourself that cup of coffee right now because Eskom has just announced Stage 2 loadshedding from midday today until 11pm on Sunday.
In a statement issued a few minutes ago, Eskom said loadshedding was necessary due to loss of generation capacity overnight.
“Loadshedding is also required to manage the use of the emergency reserves which will help to contain the stage of loadshedding required,” Eskom said.
It added the system remained vulnerable and unpredictable and should any further breakdowns occur, the stage of loadshedding might change at short notice.
Eskom said two generation units and the Kusile power station tripped due to the failure of the main coal feed conveyor belts supplying coal to the units.
"In addition, a unit each at the Kriel and Dubvha tripped due to unforeseen breakdowns. Four generation units have not yet returned to service due to delays. Eskom personnel are working to return these units to capacity,” it said.
Eskom said it currently had 5 358MW of planned maintenance while another 14 748MW of capacity was unavailable due to unplanned maintenance and outage delays.
Make sure you know where your neighbourhood fits into the loadshedding schedule so you can adjust accordingly.
IOL