Load shedding has ended at 5am after Eskom implemented it at 10pm on Tuesday night.
The power utility says the load shedding was necessary to preserve and replenish the emergency generation reserves and to maximise the capacity available during the day.
Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha says the power generation system is still severely constrained due to high generation unit breakdowns during the past two days.
Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented from 22:00 tonight until 05:00 in the morning in
order to replenish emergency generation reserves pic.twitter.com/hx4vFgCJLY— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) February 9, 2021
He says there’s also a delayed to return some units to service during planned maintenance.
“We currently have 4 858MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 375MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns and delays. Eskom expects some of these generation units to return to service from Wednesday, and will continuously assess the situation.”
“As previously communicated, Eskom continues to implement reliability maintenance during this period, and as such, the system will continue to be constrained, with the risk of load shedding remaining elevated,” explains Mantshantsha.
Earlier in January, economist Mike Schussler said South Africa was losing between R700 million and R900 million a day due to the ongoing load shedding implemented by power utility Eskom.
In the video below, Schussler and Cosatu’s Sizwe Pamla speak about the impact of load shedding:
