Home News Power restored to NC town following storm damage

Power restored to NC town following storm damage

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Eskom has meanwhile implemented Stage 2 load shedding due to a loss of generation capacity.

File picture: Bongani Mbatha/African News Agency (ANA)

THE POWER supply to Carnarvon has been restored following Tuesday’s storm damage to five electricity poles.

Eskom spokesperson Patricia Tsepane said that a technical team worked tirelessly to restore the power supply to Carnarvon.

“Electricity was restored on Thursday morning at 12.15am following a storm that hit the area on Tuesday night,” said Tsepane on Thursday.

“Technicians repaired a five-pole structure on the Cuprum-Karoo 66 kilovolt that was damaged.

“We thank customers for their patience and apologise for the inconvenience caused.”

Large areas of Kimberley were also without power Thursday morning due to a technical problem at the Hull Street sub-station.

Meanwhile, Eskom started to implement Stage 2 load shedding Thursday at noon.

Load shedding will continue until Sunday night due to a loss of generation capacity, the power utility said.

Eskom said that load shedding was necessary to manage the use of emergency reserves, which assisted in containing the stage of load shedding required.

It added that the system remained “vulnerable and unpredictable”, where the stage of load shedding could be ramped up at short notice.

“Two generation units tripped at the Kusile power station due to the failure of the main coal feed conveyor belts supplying coal to the units. In addition, a unit each at Kriel and Duvha tripped due to unforeseen breakdowns. We also presently have four generation units whose return to service from planned maintenance has been delayed.”

Eskom said that there was currently 5358 megawatts on planned maintenance while another 14,748 megawatts of capacity is unavailable due to unplanned maintenance, breakdowns and outage delays.

“Personnel are working around the clock to return as much capacity to service as soon as possible.”

Eskom urged the public to reduce electricity consumption to minimise load shedding.

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