Cape Town – Stage 4 load shedding is expected to continue until at least Wednesday, Eskom announced.
The power utility said unlawful and unprotected labour action at a number of power stations has caused delays in carrying out planned maintenance and repairs.
At a number of power stations, the full staff complement has not reported for duty.
"As a result, unplanned generation losses have not been reduced as planned, which has compelled Eskom to continue taking precautionary measures to conserve generation capacity and safeguard plant from damage.
“There is a possibility that the stage of load shedding may have to change at short notice, depending on the state of the plant and the availability of labour," Eskom said.
By Sunday afternoon approximately 4 000MW of generation capacity was at risk due to the strike action.
"It is therefore necessary to replenish emergency generation reserves to be able to react to unforeseen circumstances. Adequate emergency reserves are crucial to assist with the generation deficit while dealing with generating units that may trip owing to unlawful action, and to compensate for the inability to return generating units timeously to service. Protracted strike actions may lead to further damage and prolonged delays to returning units to service, which would compound an already constrained power system.
"We currently have 3 894MW on planned maintenance, while another 15 472MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns. In addition to this, a further 600MW is unavailable due to a line fault in Mozambique that is currently experienced by the Hydroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB).
"Eskom wishes to pay tribute and thank those many loyal and dedicated employees who keep going beyond the call of duty to help the keep the lights on."
Cape Times