For the first time in more than two weeks, South Africa will be hit by Stage 4 loadshedding, which is currently planned for Thursday evening.

Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented until 05:00 on Thursday. Then, Stage 3 will follow until 16:00, which will then be escalated to Stage 4 until 05:00 on Friday morning.

Stage 3 will be implemented from 05:00 on Friday until 05:00 on Saturday. Then Stage 2 will be implemented from 05:00 on Saturday until 05:00 on Sunday.

Breakdowns have reduced to 15 089MW of generating capacity while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance has increased to 7 147MW, Eskom said in a statement.

Over the past 24 hours, a generation unit was returned to service at Duvha Power Station. In the same period, a generating unit each at Lethabo, Kendal and Kriel power stations was taken offline for repairs. The delays in returning a unit to service at Hendrina, Medupi and two units at Tutuka power stations have contributed to the capacity constraints, Eskom said in a statement.

Five Open Cycle Gas Turbines at Ankerlig Power Station were taken out of service on Wednesday morning for a planned upgrade of their control system.