Load-shedding to continue until Saturday, says Eskom

Power utility Eskom says delays in returning generating units to service will require load-shedding until 5am on Saturday morning.

While Eskom teams successfully returned a unit each at the Kusile, Matimba and Arnot power stations during the early hours of Tuesday, further delays in returning other units to service have exacerbated the capacity constraints, hampering the ability to replenish the emergency generation reserves, the utility said in a statement.

Eskom anticipates returning Koeberg Unit 1 to service during the weekend. Eskom also expects to return five other units to service during the week.

The utility said a number of generation units are running with risk of failure and cannot be attended to at the moment due to capacity constraints.

Total breakdowns currently amount to 13,333MW while planned maintenance is 5,548MW of capacity.

gernetzkyk@businesslive.co.za