And now for the good news - Eskom suspends load-shedding
Eskom has brought enough of its generation units back online to suspend load-shedding on Friday.
The power utility said in an update on Friday morning, “After recovering three generation units overnight, Eskom is pleased to announce that the supply constraints have eased sufficiently to allow for the suspension of load-shedding. This also means no load-shedding is anticipated for the rest of the weekend.”
Three generators were returned to service at the Lethabo, Medupi and Kusile power stations. One unit at Kusile was taken offline for repairs.
Unplanned breakdowns stand at 8,750MW of capacity, adding to the 4,500MW of supply down for planned maintenance.
“While the supply constraints have eased for the rest of the weekend, Eskom would like to remind the public to continue using electricity sparingly as the aged generation infrastructure is unpredictable, unreliable and volatile.
“Any significant deterioration in the generation performance may necessitate the implementation of load-shedding at short notice.”
The power utility acknowledged it had been a “difficult week of load-shedding”. Stage 2 power cuts were implemented on Tuesday afternoon due to breakdowns and added pressure on the national grid as a cold front swept across the country.