As the power utility has warned of possible load shedding that might be implemented over the next three days, the City of Cape Town has indicated that planned routine electrical maintenance on its infrastructure will continue for the rest of the week.
The power utility broke the news after a smooth two week run of no load shedding.
Eskom’s warning is a result of a shortage of generation capacity.
“Eskom cautions the public that stage 2 load shedding might be required at short notice during the evening peak period of (4pm to midnight) over the next three days.
“Eskom will promptly communicate any further changes.” said Eskom’s Kyle Cookson.
Cookson added that the delay in returning a generation unit to service at Arnot, Kusile and the Koeberg power stations, as well as the failure of a generation unit each at Medupi, Hendrina, Camden and two units at Majuba had exacerbated the capacity constraints.
“Some generation units at other power stations are expected to return to service over the next few days.
“However, should there be any further loss of generation capacity over the next three days, or should some units fail to return to service as anticipated, load shedding may be required to be implemented at short notice.”
There is currently 2 986MW of capacity on planned maintenance, while another 15 513 MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
The power utility also reminded the public that load shedding is implemented only as a last resort to protect the national grid.
“We therefore urge all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly especially during these uncertain times on the power system.”
The City of Cape Town has also recently, in a press statement indicated that they will be resuming routine electrical maintenance until Sunday.
According to the statement the City does not carry out maintenance from stage 3 and above of load-shedding.
The City has also slammed some news channels who implied that the routine maintenance on electrical infrastructure in various areas of the metro leaves whole areas without power for a week, saying it's not true.
According to the City this is normal critical maintenance to ensure reliable supply and happens across the metro in phases, for some hours at a time, depending on the maintenance work.