Loss of 5 generating units at Majuba led to power cuts - Eskom
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramakgopa held a media briefing in Pretoria to address the power outages.
Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey-Makhaza/Eyewitness News.
JOHANNESBURG - Eskom says it lost five generation units at Majuba power station in Volkrust which led to the power outage that started on Saturday afternoon and that persists into Sunday.
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramakgopa held a media briefing in Pretoria to address the power outages.
Earlier on Sunday morning, Eskom announced that load shedding had been escalated to stage six after multiple units tripped at the Camden power station in Mpumalanga.
Minister Ramakgopa said that Eskom had to implement stage three load shedding when the units at Majuba were lost.
"On average, they generate about 6,000MW, so it means when we lose that five units that generate 6,000MW, we lost about 3,000MW at a go and that also triggered a series of events which also affected Medupi unit number 2, taking out an additional 800MW. Essentially on Saturday, 3000MW went out as a result of the trigger at Majuba."