Eskom to implement load shedding at varying stages of intensity until Sunday
Eskom announced on Tuesday that due to an improvement in available capacity, load shedding would be suspended during the day (05:00 to 16:00) until Sunday. However, rotational power cuts will continue to be implemented at Stage 3 in the evenings (16:00 to 05:00) until tomorrow. Thereafter, evening load shedding will be reduced to Stage 2
Eskom to implement load shedding at varying stages of intensity until Sunday
Eskom announced on Tuesday that due to an improvement in available capacity, load shedding would be suspended during the day (05:00 to 16:00) until Sunday. However, rotational power cuts will continue to be implemented at Stage 3 in the evenings (16:00 to 05:00) until tomorrow. Thereafter, evening load shedding will be reduced to Stage 2 over the weekend.
As of Tuesday, plant breakdowns stood at 15 420MW, while planned maintenance accounted for 3 841MW of unavailable capacity. This left Eskom’s energy availability factor (EAF) at 59% of installed capacity. Eskom expects a slight improvement in the EAF to 59.6% (Figure 1) in the week ending 11 August due to an improvement in plant breakdowns to 30.8% of installed capacity, the lowest since 13 March. That said, the unpredictability in the performance of Eskom’s coal generations fleet means that uncertainty about load shedding should remain high.
