Yesterday, Eskom announced that it will once again be forced to implement level 2 load-shedding until Sunday 7 February.
This comes after energy expert Chris Yelland previously tweeted an Eskom table that shows that the risk of load-shedding is ‘code red’ for the next three months. Code red means highly likely.
“Load shedding has been exacerbated by the forced shutdown of five generation units at the Medupi power station as a result of the inability to get coal into the unit due to the heavy rains in the Lephalale area last night,” said the utility’s spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha.
A statement by the power utility says that it currently has 15 739MW of capacity unavailable due to unplanned maintenance. It has blamed this on bad weather in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo areas.
Amidst the recent bouts of load shedding, the IRR has launched its own petition which contains a list of demands that it will deliver to the Minister of Energy, Gwede Mantashe.
Eskom warned the national energy grid remains vulnerable due to unplanned breakdowns, and stated that it might be forced to resort to rolling blackouts if the situation got worse.