By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom says load shedding will be implemented at stage 2 during the day and stage 3 in the evenings.
The increase in the severity of the planned power cuts is due to the loss of three generating units, with a further three units delayed in returning to service.
Eskom noted this alternating pattern of stage 2 load shedding from 05:00 until 16:00, and stage 3 load shedding from 16:00 until 05:00 will be repeated daily until further notice.
Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena says alternating patterns aim to manage power supply challenges.
“Unplanned outages account for 15,611MW of generating capacity, while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance is 5,487MW.
“Eskom Power Station General Managers and their teams continue to work diligently to ensure that additional generating capacity is recovered by bringing units on unplanned outages and planned maintenance back to service. A total of 2 190MW of generating capacity is anticipated to return to service by Thursday.”
Mokwena added that, they will closely monitor the power system and provide an update should any significant changes occur.
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.
Meanwhile Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has reiterated the urgent need for the building of transmission lines to unlock thousands of megawatts for the grid from new generation capacity.
“The major problem is transmission issues. We need to modernise and expand transmission by over 14 000km. To put it into context, in the past 10 years, we only did 4 000km. So, this 14 000km is to enable new generation capacity [to connect to the grid].
“If we had sufficient transmission capacity in the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and Western Cape, the grid would have the benefit of over 11 000MW,” the Minister said on Tuesday.
The Minister was speaking during a panel discussion at Ninety One’s annual Infrastructure Forum held in Johannesburg on Tuesday. Ninety One is a global asset manager with emerging market roots and a commitment to developing specialist investment teams.
Ramokgopa said the amount of renewable energy that can be released is “healthy” however, challenges persist.
“The pipeline is healthy, with over 66GW that is there. We have already identified the corridors that must be prioritised, and we know out of those corridors, we can get 2 300MW.
“The intervention really is less on the transmission lines and the pylons. It’s about increasing the size of the sub-stations. Once we do that, we know we can get the benefit of that 2 300MW,” he said.