Load-shedding reduced to stage 4 during the day and stage 5 at night

16 January 2023 - 18:00 By TimesLIVE
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Eskom says the expected return of generating units this week will help ease the pressure on the power system. Stock photo.
Eskom says the expected return of generating units this week will help ease the pressure on the power system. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF / beercrafter

Eskom will implement stage 4 load-shedding from 5am to 4pm daily from Tuesday morning, with stage 5 being implemented from 4pm to 5am.

Over the course of the week, 14 generators were expected to return to service, helping to ease pressure on the power system.

“Eskom cautions the public, however, that there is a high degree of uncertainty associated with this and these changes will only be possible if the units return to service as planned.

“Changes in stages of load-shedding can therefore occur at short notice due to the inherent unreliability of the coal power station fleet.”

Eskom procured an additional 50-million litres of diesel on January 6.

“This fuel will be used sparingly to manage the pumped storage dam levels and to limit load-shedding during the day. These emergency generators contribute 5,700MW of capacity.”

A generating unit each at Kendal, Majuba and Tutuka power stations returned to service on Monday. The summer planned maintenance programme continues and will taper off during winter, making more capacity available.

“There are 12 generators out on planned maintenance, representing 5,804MW of capacity.”

Breakdowns amounted to 16, 173MW.

TimesLIVE

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