By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 16:00 on Friday until 05:00 on Saturday, state owned power utility Eskom said on Friday.
Thereafter, alternating Stage 1 and 2 load shedding will be implemented until further notice, it added.
Stage 1 load shedding will run from 05:00 on Saturday until 16:00, followed by Stage 2 load shedding until 05:00 on Sunday. This pattern will continue until further notice.
The group noted that the power system is volatile with a sharp increase in outages. After maintaining unplanned outages below 14,000MW for a stretch, breakdowns currently exceed 17,500MW adding considerable pressure to generation.
This has been exacerbated by the delayed return of Koeberg unit 1, the group said.
Planned maintenance meanwhile is at 4,783MW.
Over the past 24 hours, Eskom said that a unit each at Camden, Majuba and Medupi have been taken down for repairs, as well as two units at Arnot.
Two generating nits at Kriel Power Station were returned to service.
More positively, evening demand is expected to only be around 26,000MW, much lower than the 30,000MW seen earlier in the week as the country was hit with colder weather.
According to independent energy analyst Pieter Jordaan, much of Eskom’s recent successes in keeping load shedding at bay have been thanks to lower demand as well as the utility ramping up the burning of diesel significantly.
After nine days of no load shedding, however, the group was forced to return to blackouts after the “trick” proved to be unsustainable.
For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.
Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.