So you had your week all figured out. Load shedding was going to come and go at predictable times, and you would manage to work around them. Well, guess what? That’s not the world you live in. That’s right, the prince of darkness has struck again.
Stage 2 load shedding has been extended for South Africa for the rest of the week. It’ll kick off today from 10 AM, and continue through until midnight. Then, it’s back from 5 AM till midnight, all the way to Sunday. You’ve got time to replan those now useless plans, then.
Load shedding returns
Stage 2 loadshedding will regretfully be implemented between 10:00 and midnight tonight. From Thursday until Sunday Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented from 05:00 until midnight. pic.twitter.com/gkGGwb5M58
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) June 22, 2022
Why has South Africa’s power gone further away? That’d be the breakdown of four more power-generating units, in one of the colder weeks of the year so far. At least, that’s the word according to Eskom. Units at the Kendal and Matiba power stations, and two at the Matla power station, have gone on an extended break because they can’t take the stress of working for Eskom.
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Of course, load shedding outages are nothing new. Nor are last-minute tweaks to the formula designed to keep us guessing. Currently, there is about 19,000MW of generating capacity missing in action, across the planned maintenance and breakdown totals. We’ll probably see the current schedule scale back some as the weekend approaches. Or it’ll get worse if something else breaks. Who knows? Certainly not Eskom.
