Loadshedding.com
Power Cuts Intensify: The Return of Stage 6 Load Shedding
On Monday, the 29th of May, power utility giant Eskom has announced an escalation in load shedding to stage 6. The reason behind this drastic shift? A delay in reactivating ten crucial power grid units.
Load Shedding Schedule
According to Eskom, the schedule for Monday kicks off with Stage 6 load shedding, beginning at 16h00 and continuing until the early hours of Tuesday, 5h00. Following this, Stage 4 load shedding will take over, lasting from 5h00 to 16h00 on Tuesday. This pattern will persist on a daily basis until further notice.
- Monday, 29 May
- Stage 4: Until 16h00
- Stage 6: 16h00 to 00h00
- Tuesday, 30 May
- Stage 6: 00h00 to 05h00
- Stage 4: 05h00 to 16h00
- Stage 6: 16h00 to 00h00
Repeating until further notice.
Behind the Power Curtailment
Current breakdowns account for 18,751MW of generating capacity. Planned maintenance has removed an additional 2,407MW from the equation.
Power Units: Back in Action and Sidelined
The past 24 hours have seen the return of a generating unit at both the Hendrina and Kendal power stations. However, this small victory was counteracted by the removal of units at Duvha, Kriel, and Tutuka power stations due to unexpected failures.
Continued delays in restoring generating units at multiple power stations, including Arnot, Duvha, Hendrina, Kendal, Kriel, Lethabo, Majuba, Matimba and two at Camden, have added to the capacity strain.
Outlook: Keeping Outages in Check
Eskom’s latest winter outlook presents a grim picture. The utility aims to keep unplanned outages below 18,000MW, the threshold for stage 8 load shedding. Meanwhile, to maintain the ‘best-case’ scenario of stage 3 to 5 load shedding, the outages need to be contained to less than 15,000MW.
Joel Bijlmer 
Load Shedding Reporter 
