Struggling Eskom on Sunday said owing to the breakdown of eight generation units Stage 6 load-shedding was continuing “until further notice”.
“Since Sunday afternoon a generating unit each at Arnot, Hendrina, Lethabo and Majuba, as well as two units at Camden Power Station have suffered breakdowns and were taken offline for repairs,” Eskom said.
“Further, two generating units at the Lethabo Power Station were shut down due to coal constraints as the New Vaal Mine that is supplying the station has been unable to deliver the expected amount of coal during the past week because of the heavy rains.”
The power utility warned that three running units were operating at minimum capacity and were “at risk of shutdown should the coal supply constraints not be resolved”.
Eskom said that given the high number of breakdowns, there was a possibility of further changes in the stages of load-shedding at short notice.
“Breakdowns currently amount to 21 243MW of generating capacity while 3 566W of generating capacity is out of service for planned maintenance,” said Eskom.