• Eskom has announced that loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 2 during the day and Stage 4 in the evening.
• A cold front saw demand increase sharply last week, leaving Eskom no choice but to impose Stage 6 loadshedding to conserve the grid’s integrity.
• Stage 6 remained until Sunday when Eskom said it had replenished its supplies of water and diesel in preparation for a new week.

*UPDATE: Eskom says it will reduce the rotating loadshedding schedule down to Stage 1 and Stage 3 from Tuesday as six generating units have returned to service, increasing availability. That means that from 05:00 until 16:00 it will be Stage 1 and from 16:00 until 05:00 it will be Stage 3.

Original story follows:

A rare cold front plunged South Africa into Stage 6 loadshedding officially, and Stage 7 unofficially last week, with Eskom desperately trying to make up for the heightened power demand. As the mercury tumbled into the negatives, people flocked to their heaters and electric blankets, leaving the state-owned utility no choice but to lean on its diesel generators more.

In order to ensure that Eskom’s storage reserves of diesel and pumped water were adequate for the week to follow, Stage 6 was left implemented for most of the weekend, finally drawing back on Sunday. Eskom then issued their plan for the rest of the week barring any significant changes to demand and supply of electricity.

According to Eskom’s latest update, published Sunday afternoon, South Africans are dealing with rotating Stage 2 and Stage 4 power cuts.

As in the past, the cuts will be implemented due to time and demand. As there is less demand during the day as people are at work, Stage 2 will be implemented from 05:00 until 16:00. Then when people return home the increase in demand means Stage 4 loadshedding becomes necessary, which will last until 05:00.

This rotation of Stage 2 and Stage 4 blackouts will be implemented “until further notice,” as Eskom says.

The utility says it was able to reduce loadshedding from Stage 6 after adequately replenishing its reserves.

“The pumped storage dam levels have been adequately replenished for the week ahead. Diesel levels at the OCGT (diesel generators) power stations have improved but remain low,” it explains.

It seems as the temperatures have risen slightly the demand has fallen, as indicated in a recent update from Sunday night.

According to Eskom, energy availability has increased to 28 531MW while demand has decreased to 31 095MW, which means that of Sundat at 18:26 Eskom only required to impose Stage 2 loadshedding, but decided to impose Stage 4 to reduce the strain on its diesel reserves as it burns the fuel at 10 of its OCGTs.

Last week demand spiked at 34 057MW while availability sat at 26 699MW. This forced Eskom to use 15 of its OCGTs to stave off Stage 8. Renewable energy generation has also increased over the week, if slightly.

Eskom’s grid remains unstable, and breakdowns of any size can cause loadshedding to be increased. We urge readers to use apps like EskomSePush in order to keep abreast of any changes in an immediate fashion.

[Image – Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash]