Eskom implemented There will be 100 days of blackouts in 2022, and more to come.
The troubled state-owned utility on Tuesday increased outages to Stage 4 load shedding, where it is removing 4GW from the grid, on Tuesday after three generating units at the Kendall coal-fired station about 100km east of Johannesburg shut down. The utility expects to reduce that to 2 GW from Thursday until the end of the week. Therefore, the total number of outage days in the third quarter will be 40.
Eskom is struggling to meet demand for electricity because its old and poorly maintained power stations are constantly failing. The power shortage is weighing on business confidence and output, and contributed to a 0.7% drop in the economy from the previous quarter in the three months to June.
In July, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced moves to encourage private power generation to complement renewable supplies. Eskom’s chief operating officer, Ian Oberholzer, warned that the plans may not come to fruition for the next 12 months or so. — (c) 2022 Bloomberg LP
