‘Prepare for load shedding’: Eskom confirm risk of blackouts for Thursday
Well, we had a good few weeks. But the lights are likely to go out again on Thursday evening. That’s straight from the horse’s mouth, too: Eskom have stated that there is a high risk of load shedding for later in the day, after they were reduced to using emergency reserves to keep the lights on overnight.
Eskom: Load shedding “likely” for Thursday 30 January
According to the ailing utility, they have been surprised by the failure of certain units to come back online after routine maintenance. That means the grid is operating with a huge chunk of power missing, and their emergency reserves are also running low. Load shedding is likely to hit South Africa in this case.
Although there have been no indications of what exact time the blackouts will be enforced – or what stage they will be – it does mark another dark chapter in Eskom’s copybook. They are seemingly finishing the month how they started it, by plunging the rest of us into darkness.
Why Eskom are on the brink again
The firm have issued a statement on the matter, and it’s nothing too revealing. They say that the entire power system “is under stress” and the amount of unit breakdowns has spiked in the last 24 hours.
“The power system is under stress this morning and we are using our back-up disel generators to meet demand. The units we were expecting to come back from maintenance have been delayed. We have adequate emergency reserves for the rest of the day, but may need to implement load shedding this evening.”
“Unplanned outages have gone up, rising to 13 062 MW. Our team are working around the clock to bring units back online, as we aim to get our breakdowns under 9 500 MW. We request that customers help by reducing demand and cutting the amount of electricity they use.”
- You can read the whole Eskom statement here:
#PowerAlert 1
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) January 30, 2020
Date: 30 January 2020
Power system tight and risk of loadshedding in the evening @SABCNewsOnline @IOL @eNCA @ewnupdates @News24 @SowetanLIVE @SAgovnews @TheSAnews pic.twitter.com/EntnOdv4P6
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