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Stage 6 loadshedding will continue to be implemented until 05:00 on Friday morning, whereafter Stage 5 will be implemented until 05:00 on Saturday morning. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes.

Since Tuesday night, breakdowns of two generating units at Grootvlei Power Station occurred, as well as a unit each at Arnot, Duvha, Kendal, Kriel and Tutuka power stations. In addition, two units at Arnot, a unit each at Camden, Kendal and Kriel power stations have been delayed in returning to service. 

A unit at Matla Power Station returned to service late last night. 

We currently have 4 984MW on planned maintenance, while another 19 052MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

As previously communicated, due to the depletion of the budget to acquire diesel for the Open Cycle Gas Turbines, Eskom has been forced to strictly preserve the remaining diesel for any extreme emergency situations such as multiple, simultaneous trips of generators. The pumped storage dam levels also need to be replenished during this loadshedding. 

The refuelling and maintenance outage starting tonight, as well as the long-term operation project of Unit 1 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, together with the October chimney failure that has forced three generation units offline at Kusile Power Station, will further reduce available generation capacity and exacerbate the occurrence of loadshedding over the next 6 -12 months.

Eskom requests the public to exercise patience and tolerance during this difficult period. 

Loadshedding is implemented only as a last resort in view of the shortage of generation capacity and the need to attend to breakdowns.

Issued by Eskom