Cape Town - Chances of load shedding on Wednesday were medium for the morning and very high for the evening, dependent on the performance of the power plant, Eskom said in a tweet.
Tuesday's late evening stage 1 load shedding marked the tenth consecutive day of load shedding for electricity consumers as Eskom battles with a very vulnerable electricity supply system. Eskom says the power system remains very vulnerable for the rest of the week.
Consumers have been plunged in the dark for almost 40 days since the beginning of this year in the worst electricity crunch since 2008 as Eskom struggles to meet demand amid a shortage of generation capacity as several units are currently out of service due to maintenance.
Eskom said maintenance is carried out to guarantee that its supply of electricity can be maintained in the long term.
Although Eskom implemented load shedding on Monday and Tuesday, there was some relief for 96% of electricity users as the power utility only had to shave off 1 000MW off the grid between 17:00 and 21:45 on both days.
"Because of maintenance, the system will not be able to meet 1 000MW of demand, meaning that although certain areas will be without electricity for a certain period, about 96% of South Africans will still continue to receive power supply at the same time," Eskom said in a statement.
#load_shedding prognosis for today is medium for the morning and very high for the evening dependent on the performance of our power plants
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) April 22, 2015
The chances for stage 1 load shedding on Wednesday evening are very likely considering Eskom's outlook for the day: The capacity available to meet that evening’s peak demand is 29 650 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 32 047 MW.
Outlook for the rest of the week:
Thursday (23 April): The capacity available to meet that evening’s peak demand is 29 650 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 31 993 MW.
Friday (24 April): The capacity available to meet that evening’s peak demand is 29 650 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 30 743 MW.
Saturday (25 April): The capacity available to meet that evening’s peak demand is 29 840 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 29 412 MW.
Sunday (26 April): The capacity available to meet that evening’s peak demand is 29 840 MW (including open cycle gas turbines) while demand is forecast 29 008 MW.
LOAD SHEDDING PLANNER: GridWatch