Power Utility Eskom announced stage 4 load shedding at 2 am on Friday morning, saying in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) that the implementation was ‘due to two additional generation units being taken out of service for repairs”.
They have assured the public that their teams are working diligently to expedite the repairs and restore the affected generation units to full capacity as soon as possible. However, until further notice, Stage 4 load shedding will remain in effect across the country.
Friday, 09 February 2024:
Due to two additional generation units being taken out of service for repairs, Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 02:00 today until further notice.
Our teams are working tirelessly to return the generation units back…
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) February 8, 2024
Kgosientsho Ramokgopa speaks on progress of load shedding:
The higher stage of load shedding came just hours following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nationa Adress,(SONA), during which he said that the government had delivered on its commitments to bring substantial new power through private investment onto the grid, which he said is already helping to reduce load shedding.
Ramaphosa said, “We are confident that the worst is behind us and the end of load shedding is finally within reach.”
Cyril: the end of loadshedding is near
Eskom: pic.twitter.com/1Kry6nIJ0R— The Kiffness (@TheKiffness) February 9, 2024
Despite the ramping up of outages to stage four indefinitely, the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) says it believes that rolling blackouts will soon be a thing of the past.
Head of the Department of Science and Innovation Energy Secretariat at SANEDI, Professor Sampson Mamphweli said, “I believe that there are some signs that load shedding may end soon. If you look at the implementation of the energy action plan – we’re starting to see some form of progress.
The President spoke about the new generation capacity part of things, in terms of projects that are being developed, because of the reforms that were brought in by government. He talked about the 120 new projects, we know that Nersa has registered more than 10 000 megawatts from the private sector, because of the removal of the licencing requirements by government,” adds Mamphweli.
