Image: Eskom
A “loss of additional power” at Medupi stemming from coal and ash issues has led to the imposition of forced power cuts at stage 2 for most of Friday, instead of the hoped-for stage 1.
In order to accommodate matric exams, the outage will be kept at stage 1 from 9am to 12 midday before escalating to stage 2 until 11pm, Eskom said in a statement.
The announcement came only hours after Eskom’s CEO Jabu Mabuza told a Thursday night news conference that the decision to implement load-shedding “was not one that we took lightly”.
He said they were disappointed when the they were left with no option but to cut off the power supply after having experienced a high level of consumption over the weekend, which was accompanied by a high level of breakdowns.
On Friday, Eskom said: “Since the media briefing last night, we have had a major setback as we have lost additional capacity from Medupi power station.”
“As articulated, our prognosis was based on the state of the system and availability as at 17:00. Late last night, we lost Medupi 3, 4 and 5 due to coal and ash handling issues.
“This is in addition to the conveyer belt that failed on Saturday 12 October at the power station.
“This means that the power system has deteriorated further, creating an additional shortage of about generation capacity of 1,500MW.
“As a result we will regrettably maintain Stage 2 loadshedding for the greater part of today.
“We understand the negative impact this will have on our customers, in particular our matriculants who are writing exams this morning. In order to lessen the disruption on exams, will be implement Stage 1 loadshedding from 9:00 until 12:00 midday and thereafter revert to Stage 2 loadshedding until 23:00.
“We apologise unreservedly to our customers and South Africans for the short notification. We will keep South Africans informed about the status and our recovery efforts throughout this period.”
BY: TIMESLIVE
SOURCE: TMG DIGITAL
