Pretoria – Power utility Eskom says the power system is projected to be severely constrained due to the loss of 1 800 MW at the Majuba power station on Saturday.
According to Eskom, the loss at the Majuba power station was caused by damage to the central coal storage silo.
“As a result, Eskom will start implementing stage 1 of rotational load shedding tomorrow (Sunday, 02 November) from 08:00 until 22:00 according to the published load shedding schedules available at http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/ for Eskom customers,” Eskom said in a statement.
A silo, which houses over 10 000 tons of coal, cracked this afternoon impacting coal supplies to all six units at the power station resulting in the power station operating at reduced capacity of 1 300MW. No injuries were reported.
Eskom said teams are on site and are in the process of dispatching mobile coal feeders to site.
“In the unlikely event that this contingency is unsuccessful, it may impact the full supply from the power station.”
Eskom engineers are investigating the cause of the incident and more details will be released in due course
Customers are urged to switch off pool pumps, turn air-conditioning to 23⁰C and to switch off geysers and unnecessary lights to limit the impact of the load shedding.
Eskom customers can contact our customer call centre on 0860 037 566. Municipal customers need to contact their own municipalities for their schedules.
Customers are cautioned to treat all electrical connections as live during this period. – SAnews.gov.za
