As Eskom announced stage 2 load shedding from midday today until 11pm on Sunday, the City of Cape Town said its customers will be on stage 1.
Eskom said load shedding was necessary due to loss of generation capacity overnight.
“Load shedding is also required to manage the use of the emergency reserves which will help to contain the stage of load shedding required,” Eskom said.
The power utility said the system remained vulnerable and unpredictable and should any further breakdowns occur, the stage of load shedding might change at short notice.
Eskom said two generation units and the Kusile power station tripped due to the failure of the main coal feed conveyor belts supplying coal to the units.
"In addition, a unit each at the Kriel and Dubvha tripped due to unforeseen breakdowns.
“Four generation units have not yet returned to service due to delays.
“Eskom personnel are working to return these units to capacity,” it said.
#Eskom #POWERALERT 1
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) January 14, 2021
Eskom to implement Stage 2 loadshedding from 12:00 today until 23:00 on Sunday pic.twitter.com/YV8ilj5o9r
Eskom said it had 5 358MW of planned maintenance while another 14 748MW of capacity was unavailable due to unplanned maintenance and outage delays.
The City of Cape Town posted on Twitter that it was able to protect its customers from one stage of load shedding.
“City-supplied customers will be on stage 1 load shedding from 12:00 until 00:00 tonight, 14 January… Eskom-supplied customers will be on stage 2 from 12:00.”
See the map below to find out when you will be affected:
Cape Argus