Johannesburg - Power utility Eskom has said that it does not expect to implement load shedding on Friday but warned that the system remains constrained.
“Unplanned breakdowns have increased this afternoon, but remain low enough to avoid load shedding,” Eskom said on Thursday evening.
“We remind South Africans, however, that the generation system remains vulnerable and unpredictable, and as such, there is a possibility that we may have to implement load shedding at short notice should there be an undesirable change in the generation system performance”.
The power utility said that breakdowns and outages stood at 10 679MW at 16:45 on Thursday, while planned maintenance outages were at 4808MW.
Eskom said that at present there was an increased risk of load shedding as the company is conducting “critical maintenance” to restore aging power plants to good health.
In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) earlier this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Eskom’s capacity will be increased through renewable energy, natural gas, hydro-power, battery storage and coal.
“We will initiate the procurement of emergency power from projects that can deliver electricity into the grid within three to 12 months from approval," said the President in his SONA in the National Assembly.