ESKOM IMPLEMENTS STAGE 3 LOADSHEDDING

• Eskom announces Stage 3 loadshedding over the weekend of 31 January to 2 February 2025.
• This follows more than 10 months of uninterrupted power supply across the country due to the success of the utility’s Generation Recovery Plan.
• Eskom experienced several breakdowns that needed extended repair times, impacting the utility’s emergency reserves that now need to be replenished, according to the Group Chief Executive Dan Marokane.

Although Eskom has implemented Stage 3 loadshedding over the weekend of 31 January to 2 February 2025, following more than 10 months of uninterrupted power supply, the summer outlook remains unchanged.

Following the 10 months of uninterrupted electricity supply due to the success of the Generation Recovery Plan, Eskom has encountered a temporary setback. As a result, Stage 3 loadshedding is being implemented from 17:00 on Friday until Sunday midnight. Eskom will give an update on Sunday, 2 February 2025.

“This is a temporary setback, as loadshedding is largely behind us due to structural improvements in the generation fleet,” said Eskom Group Chief Executive, Dan Marokane.

“Over the past seven days, we have experienced several breakdowns that require extended repair times. This has necessitated the use of all our emergency reserves, which now need to be replenished over the weekend,” concluded Marokane.

“The structural improvements and efficiency gain we have made to our coal-fired generation fleet to date are safe and the R16.30-billion saved in diesel spend from 1 April 2024 to 30 January 2025 is also safe,” said Group Executive Generation, Bheki Nxumalo.

“The weekend loadshedding allows for the replenishment of the Open-Cycle Gas Turbines and pumped storage reserves in preparation for next week. We are committed to ensuring that South Africa is in no way returning to the levels of loadshedding that we experienced in 2023,” concluded Nxumalo.

Summer outlook prediction remains unchanged

Eskom’s Summer Outlook, published on 26 August 2024, projected that in a scenario where unplanned outages reach 14 000MW, Stage 1 loadshedding may be implemented. Should unplanned outages increase to 15 000MW, Stage 2 loadshedding could be required.

While unplanned outages have increased to 13 313MW, they have been on a downward trend, averaging 12 087MW from 1 April 2024 to 30 January 2025, with the unplanned capacity loss factor at 7.3% lower than the same period last year. Additionally, diesel savings were at R16.30-billion – about 60.2% lower than the R27.09-billion spent during the same period last year.

While diesel consumption remains below the year-to-date budget, it will be used strategically to manage electricity demand during peak times.

A total of 3 410MW will be returned to service by 3 February 2025 to ease pressure on the grid and further enhance the reliability of supply.

Ongoing planned maintenance at 6 177MW, aligns with the power utility’s summer maintenance strategy to further improve reliability of its generation fleet in preparation for winter 2025 and beyond.