South African power utility Eskom has successfully restored eight generating units after enacting its highest level of controlled power cuts early Sunday. The outages followed multiple failures at the Majuba and Camden power stations over the weekend.
On Saturday, Eskom implemented Stage 3 load shedding, a measure that removed 3,000 megawatts from the national grid to stabilise supply.
“Of the 10 units that we lost overnight, we have essentially returned six units,” Eskom Group CEO Dan Marokane told reporters on Sunday.
Marokane further stated that an additional five to six units were expected to come back online throughout the day, reinforcing the 3,200 MW of capacity recovered overnight.
“We anticipate to get out of this stage by the end of the week,” he added, noting that if the recovery continued at its current pace, Eskom could consider easing power cuts as early as Monday.
By early Monday morning, Eskom announced that the outages would be scaled down to Stage 4 until further notice.
The frequent breakdowns at Eskom’s ageing coal-fired power stations, which generate the majority of South Africa’s electricity, continue to challenge the country’s energy stability.
