Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has implemented stage 4 loadshedding until further notice.
Ramokgopha and his troops at Eskom said loadshedding was necessary due to insufficient emergency reserves and generation capacity as a result of four units not returning to service as planned. Ramokgopa confirmed that an emergency power purchasing agreement has been finalised with Mozambique.
He said however power utility will monitor the system closely and provide updates in case of any significant changes.
Ramokgopa on Sunday provided a status report on the electricity crisis in the country mentioning that the last two weeks saw the need for higher stages of loadshedding due to the malfunctioning of generating units.
Eskom saw a reduction of 2,000 megawatts of generation capacity on the grid due to the offline units, he mentioned.
Ramokgopa said: “Unit 6 at Kendal, we lost Medupi Unit 6 – a big unit, Duvha again on 11 November, on 15 November we also lost Hendrina, we lost Duvha 6 again on 14 November.”
Reports earlier indicated that Eskom was set to receive an additional 1,000 megawatts of gas-fired energy from Mozambique as part of a plan to address the country’s energy crisis by stabilising the electricity grid and reducing the frequency of power cuts.
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