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Owing to the breakdown of six generating units at five power stations, the need to conserve emergency generation reserves, as well as the delay in returning to service numerous generating units, Eskom will implement continuous Stage 2 loadshedding from 16:00 until further notice. Eskom will publish a further update as soon as there are any significant changes.

A generating unit each at Duvha, Grootvlei, Hendrina, Majuba and two units at Arnot Power Station, were taken offline for repairs over the past 24 hours. The delay in returning to service two generating units at Camden and one unit each at Arnot and Duvha power stations contributed to the capacity constraints.

A generating unit each at Kriel and Matla power stations were returned to service during this period.

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 conserve the fuel for the direst of emergencies.

We currently have 4 423MW on planned maintenance, while another 16 708MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

The imminent refuelling and maintenance outage, 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 significantly increase the occurrence of loadshedding during 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