More blackouts expected as Eskom Stage 2 load shedding resumes at 9pm, Monday night

ESKOM has announced the resumption of Stage 2 load shedding, from 9pm on Monday until 5am on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after it was suspended due to “sufficient recovery in generation capacity”.

In a statement on Monday afternoon, the power utility said it was implementing load shedding in a bid to replenish emergency reserves.

“Eskom regrets to inform the public that Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented from 21:00 tonight until 05:00 on Tuesday to conserve and replenish emergency reserves,” Eskom said on Monday.

#POWERALERT1

Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented from 21:00 tonight until 05:00 on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/cbgptSwHaD

— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) February 7, 2022

Eskom says that since midnight on Sunday, it has lost units at Camden, Kusile, Duvha and Matla power stations. In addition, there has been a delay in the return of units at Kusile and two units at Majuba power stations.

“Total breakdowns amount to 16,261MW while planned maintenance is 5,350MW of capacity as we continue with reliability maintenance,” Eskom states

Meanwhile, load shedding might be implemented before 9pm and could be extended beyond 5am on Tuesday, if further breakdowns occur.

The announcement comes less than 24 hours after Eskom suspended load shedding “due to sufficient recovery in generation capacity”, it said in a statement on Sunday night.

“The period of load shedding assisted us in replenishing the emergency generation reserves in anticipation of the week ahead,” Eskom added on Sunday.

IOL