By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom announced that Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 16:00 today (6 August) until 05h00 on Monday.
Thereafter, Stage 1 load shedding will be implemented from 05h00 until 16h00 on Monday, followed by Stage 4 until 05h00 on Tuesday.
This will be repeated on Tuesday into Wednesday (9 August). Eskom will publish another update should any significant changes occur.
Breakdowns are currently at 15 050MW of generating capacity while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 4 434MW.
Over the past 24 hours, a generating unit at Camden and Duvha power stations was returned to service. In the same period, a generating unit at Medupi Power Station was taken offline for repairs.
The delay in returning to service two generating units each at Kendal and Tutuka power stations is contributing to the current capacity constraints. Eskom teams are working tirelessly to return these generating units to service.
Eskom added that it continues to appeal to the members of the public to continue reducing demand by switching off non-essential appliances.
It would like to thank those who do heed the call to use electricity sparingly and efficiently, including switching off geysers and pool pumps from 17:00 to 21:00, as this lowers demand and helps in alleviating the pressure on the power system and contributes to lower stages of load shedding.
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.
The Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says government is on track in keeping the promises it made with regards to the country’s Energy Action Plan.
He was speaking in Pretoria at his weekly media update on the state of the national grid in light of the country’s energy crisis.
Ramokgopa says over 50% of his department’s work is either complete or on track.
He said, “For us that is a big positive, so about eight of these actions that the president had set out in the Energy Action Plan, we have completed those actions.
Twenty of these actions are on track which means that we are in keeping with the timelines that we have set for ourselves, the timelines that we made in public.
All of the actions that government is undertaking are underpinned by five interventions, namely:
- Fix Eskom and improve the availability of existing supply
- Enable and accelerate private investment in generation capacity
- Accelerate procurement of new capacity from renewables, gas and battery storage
- Unleash businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar
- Fundamentally transform the electricity sector to achieve long-term energy security
According to Ramokgopa, actions that government has taken include:
- Sourcing additional capacity neighbouring countries. Some 100MW has already been sourced from Mozambique with an additional 600MW on the way.
- Addressing outages breakdowns at Eskom power stations. The amount of breakdowns has decreased from some 17000MW in May to some 15000MW average in the last week.
- Delays in returning broken down units to service have come down from 2000MW to 1300MW during the past week.
- Private investment in capacity generation has increased following the removal of the threshold.
- Government is procuring renewable energy through the Independent Power Producers. Currently there is a 66GW of projects in the pipeline.
Ramokgopa added although these interventions are contributing greatly to the reduction of load shedding, South Africans must also contribute by taking actions to reduce demand on the grid.
South Africans can contribute by switching off non-essential appliances, switching off geysers and pool pumps during peak periods and also switching off plugs and lights when not in use.