Eskom has announced that it has extended load-shedding to Sunday due to constrained generation capacity and further breakdowns, warning that the blackouts may continue into the coming week should units not return as expected.

In a statement, the power utility said its generation capacity remains constrained because, over the past 24 hours, further breakdowns occurred at three power stations, putting further strain on the generation capacity.

“Breakdowns at the Kriel, Medupi and Kendal power stations resulted in generation units being taken offline for various faults. Emerging risks at various other power stations have also contributed to the constraints.”

Eskom said that while it had used the load-shedding of the past two days to replenish emergency generation reserves, it had to use the emergency reserves to supplement supply.

It said it was unable to supply the current demand for electricity as currently it only had 7,071MW on planned maintenance while another 11,780MW was unavailable due to breakdowns and delays.  

The power utility said it is working hard to return the units back to service but should the previously stated risks materialise and units not return as expected, there is a high possibility that load-shedding may continue into the coming week.

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