South Africans Warned Load Shedding Possible After Eskom Loses 2000MW

Eskom has warned that load shedding may be implemented at short notice following a series of electrical faults at its Kriel Power Station which tripped five generating units this morning.

The power utility had lifted load shedding on Saturday, following at least six long weeks of daily power cuts.

“During the early hours of [Monday] morning there were two electrical faults in quick succession in the high voltage yard at Kriel Power Station. The fault, which appears to be related to the heavy mist conditions experienced at the time, is under investigation.

“The first fault caused units 1, 2 and 3 of the power station to trip, while the second fault tripped units 4 and 5. Unit 6 was offline at the time. The incident removed more than 2 000MW of generation capacity from the network,” Eskom said.

The electricity provider said teams are “working hard to return as many of the units to service as possible”.

“While some generation units at other power stations are expected to return to service during the day, these will take time to load to full capacity. Should there be any further loss of generation capacity during the day, or some units fail to return to service as anticipated, load shedding may be required to be implemented at short notice.

“Eskom would like to remind the public that load shedding is implemented only as a last resort to protect the national grid. We therefore urge all South Africans to continue using electricity sparingly especially during these uncertain times on the power system. Eskom will communicate promptly should the necessity arise,” Eskom said. – SAnews.gov.za