Anybody who had plans of spending the weekend playing Cyberpunk 2077 or, you know, using electricity, will have to contend with loadshedding throughout the weekend.
Late on Friday evening, Eskom announced that Stage 2 loadshedding would be implemented from 06:00 to 23:00 on Saturday and Sunday due to “unforeseen breakdowns”.
“As Eskom ramps up its planned maintenance during the lower demand summer period, as previously committed, it has had a large number of unforeseen breakdowns from the ageing, unreliable plant over the past few days,” Eskom wrote in a power alert.
Eskom to implement Stage 2 loadshedding starting at 06:00 tomorrow until 23:00, which will
be repeated on Sunday@News24 @SABCNews @NewzroomAfrika @eNCA @IOL @ewnupdates @SundayTimesZA pic.twitter.com/yWORTULdJV— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) December 11, 2020
The utility goes on to say that Kendal Power Station has been taken offline “in compliance with environmental legislation”. Four units at the Camden Power Station have also been taken offline to preserve the integrity of the ash dam facility.
In terms of capacity Eskom says that 7 452MW of capacity is currently unavailable due to planned maintenance while 10 208MW is unavailable due to unplanned maintenance.
“Eskom teams are working around the clock to return as many of these units to service as possible,” the utility added.
With the unwelcome return of loadshedding we recommend checking your schedule and preparing for when the lights go out. Schedules can be found here and the EskomSePush app for Android and Apple iOS also comes highly recommended.
