Load shedding to be reduced to stage 3 over the weekend

Eskom has announced that load shedding will continue at stage 4 on Friday but will then be reduced to stage 3 over the weekend.

The reduction in load shedding comes as delivery of diesel has started at PetroSA’s facility in Mossel Bay.

“Transferring the fuel to the Gourikwa and Akerlig Open Cycle Gas Turbine stations will take place throughout the weekend to replenish by Monday,” Eskom said.

“Eskom will also use the weekend to replenish the dam levels at the pumped storage schemes, which have been utilised extensively to complement generation capacity.”

Eskom had previously stated that the higher stages of load shedding were caused by the shortage of diesel.

Eskom also said the Camden Power Station will start returning to service over the weekend.

“It is anticipated the first unit of the Camden Power Station will return to service during the weekend, with the remaining returning over the course of the following 10 days,” it said.

Eskom added that it would provide another update on Sunday afternoon about the load shedding schedule for next week.

“We currently have 5 206MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 862MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.”

Eskom said it also apologises for the continued load shedding, which is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns.

ALSO READ: ANC not to blame for Eskom load shedding – Gordhan

Meanwhile, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday told the National Assembly at a debate sitting that load shedding was not the ANC’s fault and that it stems back to the 1980s and it certainly is not a thing of the past.

“There will be eventually no more load shedding once we have more megawatts connected to the system. It is not going to happen overnight. To be frank with the SA public, the government has said repeatedly – we could still have load shedding for 9 – 12 months,” he said.

NOW READ: ‘We could still have load shedding for another 9 – 12 months’, Gordhan