SA power supply 'constrained and vulnerable' for the week ahead

The country's electricity supply remains “extremely constrained and vulnerable”, and the probability of load-shedding remains for the week ahead, said Eskom.

This was due to generating plants “performing at very low levels of reliability”, said the power utility.

However, progress in replenishing diesel for open-cycle gas turbines and increasing water levels at pumped storage schemes was made at the weekend.

Eskom said after a meeting at 10pm on Sunday that “while the objective is not to implement load-shedding, the generating plant performance continues to be unpredictable.

“Eskom wishes to remind customers that any unexpected shift, such as additional unplanned breakdowns or the unavailability of diesel for open-cycle gas turbines or water levels at pumped storage schemes, could result in load-shedding at short notice.”

On a more positive note, Kusile 3, near eMalahleni in Mpumalanga, was synchronised to the grid for the first time on Sunday, feeding 300MW into it.

“While synchronisation only provides intermittent power, this is a positive step towards achieving commercial operation and increasing capacity.”

The power utility said its technical teams were working around the clock to return units from planned and unplanned maintenance.

“A concerted collective effort to reduce demand can further help to lessen the level of load-shedding.

“As such, we strongly urge customers to assist by helping to reduce demand by using electricity sparingly,” Eskom said.