In the early hours of Sunday morning 23 February, Eskom declared stage 6 load shedding after approximately 20 days without any incidents. The utility mentioned that it would consider reducing from stage 6 on Monday.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa stated that Eskom has experienced a ‘perfect storm’ of breakdowns and offline capacity, resulting in the resurgence of severe load shedding.
During a media briefing later in the morning, the minister explained that the return to stage 6 load shedding is due to “extraordinary circumstances” and should be viewed considering the extended period of uninterrupted energy supply.
However, he acknowledged that this does not lessen the regret over Stage 6 load shedding. “The level of disappointment is fully understood, especially since we were on the right path to eliminating load shedding,” he said.
He apologised on behalf of the administration for the setback. Ramokgopa explained that a series of issues hit Eskom in quick succession, leading to Stage 6 load shedding. These issues included five units tripping at Majuba Power Station on Saturday, a unit tripping at Medupi, four units tripping at Camden Power Station on Sunday morning, over 7,000 MW offline for planned maintenance, and emergency reserves being depleted, which need replenishing for the coming week.
Ramokgopa mentioned that the high levels of planned maintenance align with the power utility’s “calculated aggression” in addressing maintenance needs. He emphasized that this approach carries inherent risks, which are currently manifesting.
Maintaining such a large number of megawatts offline for maintenance leaves a much smaller ‘buffer’ when units fail,” he explained. “As a result, when units go offline, as they have in this case, load shedding becomes unavoidable. This risk has materialised in this instance.
Nonetheless, he added that the aggressive maintenance strategy must continue, risks included, in order to make the grid more reliable and stable. He cautioned that neglecting maintenance would lead to more frequent trips and breakdowns, ultimately resulting in increased load shedding, as seen in previous years.
He detailed the sequence of events, stating that five units tripped at Majuba on Saturday, taking approximately 3,000 MW offline, which necessitated Stage 3 load shedding.
Early Sunday morning, around 01:30, four units went down at Camden Power Station, escalating the load shedding to stage 6, the minister explained
He said that there was no indication of sabotage. Eskom CEO Dan Marokane explained that the loss of units at Majuba was caused by a transformer overload, which was the primary factor behind the load shedding experienced over the weekend. The utility is currently conducting a full assessment.
The failures at Camden were related to a valve issue, which triggered a domino effect on various units. The CEO noted that the utility has been addressing this since November and has made progress.
Of the 10 units lost, six have been returned to service, bringing 3 200MW back online, two more units are expected to return today.
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Marokane added that all units should be operational by Tuesday, with all systems recovered by the end of the week. Stage 6 load shedding is necessary to ensure enough capacity to restore emergency reserves, which are expected to be heavily utilized this coming week.
Marokane said that the utility plans to step down from stage 6 on Monday, 24 February.
