SOUTH AFRICA - BREATHE EASY, NO LOADSHEDDING FORECAST FOR TODAY BUT THE SYSTEM IS 'CONSTRAINED'

No load shedding is expected on Saturday despite "unplanned breakdowns" of well over 14,000MW, state-owned power utility Eskom said.

"The electricity system is severely constrained today [Saturday] with unplanned breakdowns at 14,294MW as at 06:30 this morning," Eskom said in a statement.

While a number of units had returned to service, Eskom "unexpectedly lost some generation units" on Friday night, but load shedding was not expected. Eskom would continue to use emergency reserves to supplement capacity if necessary over this period.

However, customers were reminded that as the system continued to be vulnerable and unpredictable, the possibility of load shedding remained.

"Our technical teams will continue to work over the holiday period to monitor the situation, carry out planned maintenance, and to work at reducing unplanned breakdowns to below 9500MW to enable us to minimise the possibility of load shedding. We continue to ask customers to reduce demand, as a concerted collective effort can help to avoid or lessen the level of load shedding," the statement said.

via - IOL / ESKOM