With the continued suspension of load shedding, the power system remains stable and approximately 2 600MW are expected return ahead of Monday’s evening peak.
“The power system is stable, allowing for the suspension of loadshedding since 22:00 on Thursday, 15 May 2025. While stable, the system remains constrained and adequate emergency reserves are in place and strategically deployed to support demand during peak winter periods,” Eskom said on Friday.
The Unplanned Capacity Loss Factor (UCLF), which measures unplanned outages, stands at 28.30% for the financial year-to-date (1 April to 15 May 2025).
This reflects a slight improvement of ~0.2% compared to 28.47% recorded during the same period last year.
The financial year-to-date planned maintenance has averaged 6 669MW, representing 14.26% of total generation capacity—an increase of 3.1% compared to the previous year.
“As the winter season sets in, planned maintenance has been decreased, averaging 5 407MW this week (9 to 15 May)—slightly higher than the typical winter maintenance levels in prior years.
“The Open-Cycle Gas Turbine (OCGT) load factor increased to 10.94% this week, compared to 3.87% in the previous week (2 to 8 May 2025). The financial year-to-date OCGT load factor reflects a 2.8% decrease compared to the year-to-date figure from the previous week,” Eskom said.
Diesel usage is expected to decline as more units return from long-term repairs and maintenance activities are reduced, increasing available generation capacity.
Eskom said the Winter Outlook, published on 5 May 2025, covering the period ending 31 August 2025, remains valid.
“It indicates that loadshedding will not be necessary if unplanned outages stay below 13 000MW. If outages rise to 15 000MW, loadshedding would be limited to a maximum of 21 days out of 153 days and restricted to Stage 2,” the power utility said. -SAnews.gov.za
