Eskom has reduced load shedding from stage four to stage two, following the successful restoration of several power generation units.
According to the power utility, this improvement comes after all five units at Majuba, two units at Camden, and one unit at Medupi were brought back online.
Over the weekend, eight out of ten generation units tripped, initially prompting Eskom to implement stage three load shedding before escalating it to stage six.
Eskom stated on X:
Eskom is currently #loadshedding in #Stage2
Eskom customers may obtain their loadshedding schedules from https://t.co/UzMtttaJ4q
Municipal customers should contact the local municipality for schedules— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) February 25, 2025
The Eskom statement on X reads:
Stage 4 loadshedding will continue to be implemented until 5:00 AM on Tuesday. Thereafter, loadshedding will be reduced to Stage 2 until further notice. This decision follows the successful recovery of eight out of ten generation units and the restoration of 3 808MW from units that tripped over the weekend, with an additional 1 146MW expected to be recovered overnight.
While the recovery of the emergency reserves is progressing well, further replenishment is required to reach sufficient levels. These positive developments support our ongoing focused efforts to stabilise the power supply and ensure reliability.
Currently, unplanned outages are at 13 690MW, which is 690MW higher than our summer outlook base case of 13 000MW. Ongoing planned maintenance stands at 7 245MW, in alignment with our summer period maintenance strategy, that is at increased levels in order to prepare for winter and meet licence and regulatory requirements.
Eskom will provide the next update on Tuesday, 25 February 2025, or as soon as any significant changes occur.
On Sunday, Minister of Electricity and Energy Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa reassured South Africans that the country would overcome the current power crisis by the end of the week.
“I’m confident that by the end of the week, we should be out of this difficult situation. We believe we are returning to stable conditions. By week’s end, there will be no load shedding. We would have moved past this wave, and ultimately, the country should expect uninterrupted power supply,” Ramokgopa stated.
He emphasised that load shedding should be viewed as an abnormal occurrence.
Eskom CEO Dan Marokane said out of the 10 units lost overnight, six were back online.
“We have five to six units that are planned to come back in operation during the course of today and we will take stock just after 8 o’clock in the evening, after the evening peak. Our teams are very focused on returning these units,” Marokane told media at the briefing in Pretoria.
He said the loss of multiple units at the Majuba power station was occasioned by an overload on a transformer.
Marokane said when they checked the situation at Majuba on Saturday, it coincided with the trip to Medupi power station which had to do with the underfrequency in the network.
At Majuba, five units were lost but were brought two back online by 6am on Sunday, as well as one at Camden. The power utility would proceed to bring the rest of the units back into operation.
“Essentially, what really pushed us into the position that we found ourselves [in] having to initiate load shedding at very short notice yesterday at 5:30 pm was the loss of multiple units at Majuba power station.
“This was occasioned by initially an overload on a transformer as a result of the startup of a unit that was coming out of a long-term outage and that essentially started the domino effect of reticulation supply cutting to the rest of the units. And one by one, those units gave in,” he explained.
