Eskom has announced that Stage 2 load shedding will start at 16:00 again on Tuesday. It will stop at 05:00 on Wednesday morning, but with a possibility of load shedding throughout the week, the utility warned.
This is due to further breakdowns of generating units at the Kriel, Arnot, Majuba and Tutuka power stations over the past 24 hours, as well as delays in returning units to service at Duvha and Tutuka Power stations.
Tuesday's load shedding will assist to replenish the emergency generation reserves, which have been used extensively over the past three weeks to avoid load shedding during the day, Eskom said. Emergency generation usually includes open cycle gas turbines, which are powered by diesel, and are much more expensive than burning coal.
During this time, a generation unit each at Kusile and Arnot returned to service.
"This, however, is not sufficient to eliminate load shedding for the rest of the week," Eskom warned.
Power supply constraints will persist throughout the high-demand winter period, which increases the likelihood of further load shedding, it added.
On Tuesday morning, breakdowns totaled 15 360MW of capacity, while another 1 580MW is unavailable due to planned maintenance. Some generation units are expected to return to service starting on Tuesday evening, which would help ease the strain, Eskom said.