Eskom suspended load shedding at midnight.
Image: Itumeleng English / Independent Newspapers
Load shedding has been suspended after power utility, Eskom, announced they recovered approximately 2015MW of generation capacity.
In a statement, Eskom said: “Follow the recovery (of) generation capacity, an expected decline in electricity demand, and sufficient emergency reserves, load shedding was suspended at midnight. Planned maintenance continues to ensure system readiness for increased winter demand, to meet regulatory requirements and to ensure environmental compliance.”
Eskom said its team “remains committed to restoring approximately 6000MW to service by next Tuesday”.
“Eskom will release its Power Alert later today or provide further communication as needed,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, at Tshwane in Gauteng, teams were on the ground attending to a supply interruption due to broken poles after storms.
The outages affected customers in Bangladesh, Erasmus, Ga-Rankuwa Zones 7, 8, 9, 10, and 17, Hebron (Phases 1 and 2 and Motseng Section), Itsoseng Phases 3 & 5, parts of Kgabalatsane, Matshelapata, Midas Square, and Odi View.
Eskom said: “Electricity supply has been restored to Bangladesh, Ga-Rankuwa Zones 7, 8, 9, 10 and 17, Midas Square, Itsoseng Phases 3 and 5, Matshelapata and Odi View. Work is progressing to restore supply to Erasmus, Hebron (Phase 1 and 2 and Motseng Section), and parts of Kgabalatsane. However, at this stage, we cannot give an estimation of when all the work will be concluded, and supply restored.”
On Thursday, the power utility announced the implementation of Stage 2 load shedding from Thursday at 4pm, and was expected to last until 5am on Friday.
Stage 2 was, however, suspended at midnight.
Load shedding was implemented on Thursday “in light of unexpectedly high electricity demand compounded by the loss of generation units and extensive planned maintenance work”, which placed enormous strain on the already beleaguered grid.
chevon.booysen@inl.co.za