(Photo: Leon Sadiki / Bloomberg via Getty Images) 
After a weekend of Stage 4 and Stage 5 load shedding, Eskom has announced that Stage 6 will be implemented from 5am on Tuesday, 5 September, and will continue “until further notice”.
Eskom, in a statement on Monday evening, said this was because of an increase in planned maintenance and the loss of a further two generation units on Monday.
“Overnight, a further two units at Lethabo and Matla power stations will need to be shut down for urgent repairs,” it said.
Eskom said breakdowns were at 16,210MW, while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance was 5,894MW.
“Since yesterday, a generating unit each at Kriel and Medupi power stations was taken offline for repairs. In the same period, a generating unit at [each of] Arnot, Kendal, Kriel and Lethabo power stations [was] returned to service.
“The delay in returning to service a generating unit each at Hendrina and Tutuka power stations is also contributing to the current capacity constraints,” it said.
South Africa is enduring its worst year for power cuts by the monopoly energy utility, with only one day where load shedding was fully suspended. (To track the days and stages of rolling blackouts, see The Outlier.)
The resurgence of Stage 4 and Stage 5 power cuts at the weekend came on the back of Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s statement last Sunday that load shedding could ease due to a drop in electricity demand and the expected return of units to service.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Electricity Minister raises hopes of fewer hours of load shedding – but we’re not yet out of the dark
Ramokgopa said Eskom would begin to ramp up planned maintenance after it had been cut during winter. In line with Eskom’s winter plan, planned maintenance had been kept below 3,000MW during winter (less than half of what is normally done in summer). However, in the past few days, Eskom has averaged about 5,910MW of planned maintenance.
Ramokgopa is currently in Kenya, where he is attending the Africa Climate Summit from 4-6 September.
A statement by the minister earlier on Monday said Ramokgopa was “concerned about the current load shedding Stage 5 and is in constant contact with the leadership of Eskom’s generation team to ensure that units are returned to service as speedily as possible”. DM