Eskom said that load-shedding will resume on Wednesday, in a blow to South Africans who had enjoyed an uninterrupted power supply since Monday.
The power utility, in a brief post shared on social media, initially announced there would be no load-shedding until 4pm on Tuesday due to a “significantly lower than anticipated demand for electricity”.
But on Tuesday afternoon the utility said: “Due to slight improvement in generation capacity and lower demand load-shedding will remain suspended until 5am on Wednesday.
“Stage 2 load-shedding will then be implemented [until 4pm]. Stage 3 load-shedding will then be implemented at 4pm on Wednesday until 5am on Thursday.”
Eskom last week announced there had been notable gradual improvements in its power generation fleet. According to the power utility, over the past week six coal-fired power stations achieved an energy availability factor (EAF) of 70%, a milestone it says was last achieved on May 8 last year.
Three of them — Camden, Duvha and Matla — have been on a sustained upward trend as a result of a reduction of plant breakdowns and the return to service of a number of units that were on unplanned breakdowns.
The utility said the other three — Lethabo, Matimba and Medupi — have been experiencing continued good performance and remain among its three best-performing power stations.
In addition, Lethabo is said to have been able to sustain performance after a quick recovery after a wet coal incident experienced last week, due to flooding after excessive rainfall.
TimesLIVE
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