Eskom: Loadshedding will be suspended at 05:00 on Thursday, but significant risks to the system remain and loadshedding could again be implemented at short notice

As previously communicated, Eskom is pleased to announce that loadshedding will be suspended from 05:00 tomorrow morning. We have used the past six days of loadshedding to conduct some repairs to generating units and to continue with the maintenance programme. Even though we were able to replenish emergency generation reserves, we have had to continue relying on these to support power system over this period.

Eskom would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the implementation of loadshedding, and thank the public for their understanding of the situation.

While Eskom is currently able to suspend loadshedding, there are still significant risks to some generating units, which would force Eskom to implement loadshedding at short notice should we lose any further generation capacity. The teams are doing everything possible to manage the risks. Eskom urges the public to continue using electricity sparingly in order to minimise the possibility of further loadshedding.

While Eskom teams have returned some generation units to service since Friday, helping to reduce the pressure on the system, we have unfortunately suffered further breakdowns during the period. Although we have recovered some emergency generation reserve capacity to support the system, the recovery in generation capacity has not been sufficient to alleviate the system constraints.

In addition to the Eskom planned maintenance programme, Hydro Cahora Bassa also started its planned annual maintenance outage on 09 October 2021, which resulted in a 650MW reduction in available capacity. Hydro Cahora Bassa is expected to be at full capacity by Friday morning.

Total breakdowns currently amount to 14 868MW while planned maintenance is 5 277MW of capacity.

During the night and over the next few days, some generation units will be returning to service, which will further ease the pressure on the system. Returning units are expected at Kriel, Majuba, Hendrina, Lethabo and Tutuka power stations.

Eskom will communicate promptly should there be any significant changes to the power system.