By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
State owned power utility Eskom CEO Dan Marokane confirmed that stage 3 load shedding will commence from 5pm on Friday (31 January).
Marokane said during an emergency media briefing this afternoon.
This comes after Eskom warned earlier on Friday that South Africa faced the risk of rotational blackouts over the weekend after the state-owned power utility had depleted its reserves because of extended plant breakdowns.
It will be SA’s first bout of load shedding in 10 months.
Eskom said at the briefing that a total of six units from two power stations – Lethabo in the Free State and Matimba in Limpopo – were impacted. However, one unit had come back online while the rest were expected to come online over the weekend, or latest by Tuesday.
It noted that unplanned losses were over 13 000 MW.
Electricity and Energy Minister Kgosientso Ramokgopa said that as a result of the breakdowns, Eskom had to rely on its open-cycle gas turbines for most of this week.
Essentially, in layman’s terms we are burning diesel,” Ramokgopa confirmed.
Eskom has previously said that the success of the generation recovery plan also resulted in year-to-date diesel saving of over R16.5 billion.
Launched in April 2023 following extensive stakeholder engagements with power station managers, a generation recovery plan strategy aimed to address challenges affecting the country’s energy availability factor (EAF) within a two-year timeframe, saw more than 300 days of no load shedding.
“We are within touching distance with the resolution of load shedding. We are on the right track in terms of reducing unplanned losses and reducing the rate at which units are failing,” Ramokgopa stressed.
He reiterated that Eskom is also investing in planned maintenance. “You will remember I spoke about short-term pain, [for] long-term gain. We have been seeing the rewards over a long period now”.
“This is a potentially temporary setback,” Marokane said in the earlier statement on Friday.
The breakdowns have needed extended repair times and the company’s reserves need replenishing, and “load shedding up to Stage 4 may be implemented over the weekend.”
Although load shedding has been on hold for an extended period, energy experts have repeatedly cautioned that the underlying energy crisis is far from resolved.
In August 2024, Eskom shared its summer outlook for the period from 1 September 2024 to 31 March 2025, predicting a likely scenario of a load shedding-free summer due to structural generation improvements. In an update in early January the utility said the outlook remains unchanged.
“We will be initiating stage 3 load shedding over the weekend and then go back to conditions of what we have come to call normality,” Ramokgopa said.
No mention was made of a potential peak in demand from the heatwave conditions that have hit Gauteng and SA’s northern provinces this week.
The minister said Eskom will over the weekend replenish its diesel reserves to ensure they’re ready for the next workweek. He also emphasised that while the return of load shedding represents a setback for Eskom, the utility’s outlook remains positive, including for the high-demand winter period.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of Eskom.