Eskom has announced Stage 2 load-shedding for Tuesday evening between 16:00 and midnight and warned there is a high probability of power cuts on Wednesday and Thursday night.
The state-owned power utility said load-shedding is needed due to a shortage of generation capacity.
“The breakdowns of a single generation unit at Arnot Power Station and three at Tutuka Power Station during the last 24 hours, as well as the delays in returning units to service at Arnot, Kusile and Tutuka power stations have put a severe strain on the power generation system,” Eskom stated.
Eskom has 4,550MW offline on scheduled maintenance, while another 14,182MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.
Its announcement of power cuts for tonight comes after Eskom warned late on Monday afternoon that it may need to load-shedding at short notice.
That was after a unit each at Kriel, Majuba, and Matla, and three units at Arnot broke down between Sunday and Monday afternoon.
There were also delays in returning units to service at Kusile, Lethabo, and Tutuka.
Eskom said its capacity constraints were exacerbated due to the cold front sweeping across the country.
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