Eskom suspends load shedding

Power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will be suspended on Friday (22 April) at 22h00.

However, it warned that the national grid remains under pressure and unpredictable, and that load shedding could easily make a return should it be deemed necessary.

“Eskom expects to return to service nine generation units during the weekend. The low weekend demand will assist in replenishing emergency reserves,” it said.

“We would again like to caution that even with the return to service of these units, the power system remains severely constrained and volatile. During the next week, we anticipate to continue relying on the use of emergency reserves to meet demand.”

Eskom’s updated winter shedding forecast indicates that load shedding is likely to continue in the coming months unless it can manage unplanned outages.

In a media briefing on Tuesday (19 April), Eskom laid out three scenarios:

In the best case, Eskom said that if it can keep unplanned outages below 12,500MW then there will be zero days of load shedding in the coming months.
A medium-case scenario would see the country face seven days of load shedding,
In an extreme scenario, the country would see 101 days of load shedding.

Main Image: Sinetech