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Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan says that Eskom has come up with a detailed winter plan that includes several possible scenarios.
Gordhan said the first scenario was if no load shedding was implemented.
"In this instance, we will ensure that unplanned outages or breakdowns are kept to less than 9500MW and that planned outages are within this range of 3000MW to 5000MW, so that we have some flexibility.
"In scenario 2, if outplanned outages go beyond 9500MW, a maximum of 26 days of Stage 1 load shedding (will take place) throughout this whole five month period," he said.
There was also the expectation that the coal plants, Medupi and Kusile would soon be able to contribute in a more significant way, hopefully by the end of April.
The media was also told that power plants generally performed better during the cooler conditions in winter.
Gordhan along with Eskom board chairman Jabu Mabuza was briefing the media on the state of SA's electricity supply.
This follows a previous briefing about two weeks ago.
At the time the country was in the midst of Stage 4 load shedding, which lasted for several days.
The power supply was so constrained that Eskom also implemented Stage 2 load shedding during the night.
Gordhan could not say then when load shedding would come to an end, but said they would know more within 10-14 days after the technical review team had had the opportunity to access the power plants.
Eskom has previously blamed ageing power plants and insufficient maintenance, among other things, for the spate of load shedding.
The briefing is ongoing. Follow the live update here.
