… but expect blackouts on Sunday.
JOHANNESBURG – Eskom will stop load shedding at 5pm on Saturday owing to an improved generation system performance, which has given the state-owned power utility room to provide some relief to customers during the night.
Eskom will resume implementing load shedding on Sunday at 8am, Eskom said in a statement.
“Two generation units have successfully returned to service earlier than expected this morning [Saturday] and the pumped-storage schemes have recovered adequately, setting us on a good course to full recovery by Monday morning.”
“Unplanned breakdowns” had reduced, giving some reprieve from load shedding during the night while affording some headroom to replenish the emergency reserves to better meet the coming week’s demand.
“Unplanned outages or breakdowns were at 10,553 MW as at 08:00 this morning [Saturday], while planned maintenance is 5679 MW. Even though we can provide some relief tonight, the system remains unpredictable and constrained, and as such we remind customers that any shift in the system performance will require a change in the stage of load shedding at short notice.”
Eskom also again reminded South Africans that there was a possibility of increased load shedding over the next 18 months as it conducted critical maintenance to restore the ageing plant to good health.
African News Agency
