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South Africa | Eskom: Zambia blackout at weekend led to problems with supply from Cahora Bassa, Mozambique
10:06 CAT | 09 Nov 2021
FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only. - South African state power company Eskom said on Sunday that a “major incident” in Zambia on Saturday had affected the entire Southern African power pool. During the incident, imported power from Cahora Bassa was reduced by 1,000 MW, while a Tutuka generator also tripped. Copper-rich Zambia suffered a nationwide power blackout on Saturday after an unidentified problem. [File photo: Lusa]
In South Africa, stage 4 load shedding will start at 13:00 on Monday, Eskom has announced.
This follows a “major incident” in Zambia that affected power supply from Cahora Bassa, the power utility said on Sunday.
Stage 4 will last until Friday morning, after which Stage 2 will continue until Saturday.
Total breakdowns amount to 14 874MW and planned maintenance is at 5 579MW of capacity.
Eskom said it had become necessary to ration its reserves as load shedding continued.
“It was anticipated that an additional seven units would have returned to service by Monday, and this has not materialised,” Eskom said.
“While Eskom regrets the escalation in loadshedding, it is necessary to ration the remaining emergency generation reserves, which have been utilised extensively this morning as we are not getting the reduction in demand as expected from the implementation of Stage 2 load shedding.”
The utility had warned on Sunday it could not rule out higher stages of load shedding should the situation worsen.
“Regretfully, due to the ongoing insufficient generation capacity and the inability to replenish emergency reserves over this weekend, Stage 2 load shedding will continue throughout next week from 05:00 on Monday 8 November until 05:00 on Saturday 13 November,” spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said on Sunday.
“Since the power system remains volatile and unpredictable, higher stages of load shedding may be required.”
He said a “major incident” in Zambia on Saturday had affected the entire Southern African power pool. Imported power from Cahora Bassa reduced by 1 000 MW, while a Tutuka generator also tripped.
Furthermore, a unit at Tutuka power station was forced to shut down while there were further delays in returning a unit each at Lethabo and Majuba power stations.
On Sunday 7 November, a unit each at Medupi and Matla power stations tripped.
Meanwhile, diesel stocks are limited.
Total breakdowns currently amount to 16 693MW while planned maintenance is 5 769MW of capacity.
Eskom teams successfully returned two of the three generators at Kendal Power Station following the shutdown on Friday due to coal constraints, while a unit each at Lethabo and Majuba power station was returned to service from boiler tube leak repairs, Mantshantsha added.
Dear @Eskom_SA unpack this. 1) What major incident happened in Zambia, 2) What does “ Impacting on the entire SADC Power Pool mean? 3) How does an incident in Zambia affect Cahora Bassa which is a point to point HVDC link btwn Moz and RSA? @SikonathiM #eskom pic.twitter.com/iQbdwGWsG1
— Jacob Maroga (@jacob_maroga) November 7, 2021
Stage 4 loadshedding will be implemented from 13:00 until 05:00 on Friday; thereafter Stage 2 loadshedding will be implemented as previously communicated until 05:00 on Saturday pic.twitter.com/T2PRhEOaTm
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) November 8, 2021
Zambia blackout at the weekend led to problems with the supply from Cahora Bassa dam, adding to Eskom’s problems https://t.co/hdRIyaHFnM
— Times LIVE (@TimesLIVE) November 8, 2021
Source: FIN24 / News24
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