Byline: Kelebogile Masemola
09 March 2022
South African power utility Eskom has announced it will implement stage 4 load shedding from 09:00 on Wednesday 09 March 2022 until Friday 11 March 2022 at 05:00.
“It is with a great deal of disappointment that Eskom has to inform the public that further failures overnight of generation units has necessitated the implementation of stage 4 load-shedding starting at 9am,” said Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha.
Load-shedding will then be lowered to Stage 2 until 05:00 Monday morning.
According to Mantshantsha, a unit each at Kendal, Duvha, Camden and Kusile power stations tripped overnight.
“Since then, we have returned four units to service. However, these units need to ramp up to full output, which necessitates a high usage of emergency generation reserves today.
“This being the fourth day of extremely high diesel usage, the emergency reserves are being depleted faster than can be replenished,” Mantshantsha said.
He said load-shedding will give them the space required to replenish emergency reserves and continue to manage the system safely.
Total breakdowns amount to 15,439MW while planned maintenance is 5,505MW of capacity.
“Eskom would like to apologise for the implementation of load shedding and will continuously review the situation and act appropriately as circumstances change,” he said. The power utility appealed to all South Africans to help it limit the impact of load-shedding by reducing the use of electricity and to switch off all non-essential items.
