Eskom has not imposed rotational blackouts for more than three weeks, and doesn’t expect to do so for the foreseeable future.
South Africans are enjoying one of the longest load shedding-free periods in years as the state-owned electricity utility says it has sufficient generating capacity and emergency reserves to meet demand.
How long can it last?
“Load shedding will continue to be suspended until further notice. This follows a period of 21 consecutive days and, as of midday today, 535 hours without load shedding,” Eskom said in a statement.
“This is a result of sustained generation capacity, adequate emergency reserves and reduced electricity demand from the grid.”
It said the last time it achieved a similar milestone was in June 2022, with 20 consecutive days without load shedding. And it’s promised it hasn’t achieved the current lull in the power cuts by running its ageing coal-powered power stations unnecessarily hard.
“While Eskom acknowledges this milestone, it remains committed to the continued implementation of its generation operational recovery plan to reduce and ultimately eliminate load shedding,” it said, adding that as of Wednesday afternoon, 5.4GW of generating capacity was still offline for planned maintenance.
The extended break from load shedding comes six weeks before South Africans go to the polls in the most important national election since 1994.
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“Eskom power station GMs and their teams are working diligently to ensure the recovery of additional generating capacity by bringing units from unplanned outages and planned maintenance back into service as soon as possible. A total of 2 070MW of generating capacity is planned to be returned to service by Friday,” it said. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media