Eskom will implement Stage 3 load shedding from 5pm today, which will continue throughout the weekend.
The power utility had managed to stave off the implementation of load shedding for the past 10 months, in accordance with the Generation Recovery Plan and the Energy Action Plan.
During a media briefing at Megawatt Park on Friday, Electricity and Energy Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa explained that several factors led to a “perfect storm” – triggering the necessity of initiating load shedding.
“We got hit by a perfect storm. We had the units out for planned maintenance… We have been doing [that] consistently to allow us a significant amount of headspace for... [maintenance].
“[However] we had a situation where at two of our best performing power stations, Matimba and Lethabo, we had a number of units failing at the beginning of the week... and... there were other units that delayed in coming back [online],” he said.
As a result, the power utility was forced to rely on the open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) – Eskom’s diesel burning reserves – which are now depleted.
“We are at a point where for the purposes of protecting the grid and the integrity of the system, we need to maintain the reserve margins.
“We have taken a conscious decision that we are not following records (sic). Ideally, we would want to say: a year without load shedding. But no, that can’t be at the expense of the system. [We are] informed by prudent and judicious engineering consideration and the expectations of the system operator, so we will initiate load shedding.
“It gets to be initiated because we are pulling back and replenishing all the reserves,” Ramokgopa said.
Eskom Group Chief Executive, Dan Marokane, said teams at Matimba and Lethabo power stations are already working to bring units back online.
“We are well progressed in terms of getting these units back on track… [and] into operation. They’ll be coming through over the weekend and early in the new week.
“However, what we saw… is the fact that come next week, as the demand picks up, we’ll not have any reserves if we do not create some [head room] for ourselves over this weekend,” Marokane said.
He assured that Eskom remains committed to addressing unit unreliability.
“Overall availability is still high but we need to create this space for unexpected breakdowns, as they do happen. This is well within the forecast that we shared for the summer plan.
“Our teams’ [focus]… is to return these units back into operation and get back to the new normal of no load shedding,” Marokane said. – SAnews.gov.za
