Eskom introduces load shedding as 10 units fail in 24 hours

• 3 years ago (2021-05-17)
• David Flin

Africa 326 Coal 314

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Eskom has implemented rolling blackouts with immediate effect. The load shedding will last until Tuesday night, 18th May, the utility said in a statement. It said: “Eskom regrets to inform the public that due to a loss of 10 generating units at seven power stations during the past 24 hours, stage 2 load shedding will be implemented stating at 5pm this evening (16th May) until 10pm on Tuesday.”

Eskom lost three units at the Tutuka power station due to a “loss of air compressors”, while a unit at Majuba was forced to shut down and another tripped. A unit at Kriel was taken down because of a boiler tube leak, while a unit was forced to shut down due to a steam leak at Matla power station. There were also trips of a unit each at Medupi, Kusile, and Duvha power stations, which Eskom said are being investigated.

The recent breakdowns represent a loss of over 6 GW of generating capacity, taking total unplanned capacity lost to 16.1 GW. Planned maintenance outages are at 4.2 GW.