Eskom has told operators of some independent wind-power plants that it won’t need their power at certain times of day due to lower demand amid a national shutdown.
Browsing: Energy and sustainability
Eskom moved to reassure lenders and markets on Monday that it will continue to meet its financial commitments and obligations during and after South Africa’s Covid-19 lockdown.
Eskom has told part of its workforce to stay home and delayed some maintenance as demand for electricity plummeted due to the national lockdown aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus.
Energy regulator Nersa took a crucial step toward allowing the government to procure emergency power and to allow the building of more privately owned power plants.
Eskom contracts with five international companies will be scrutinised by South African state investigators as part of a widening probe into corruption at the debt-laden state-owned utility.
An acute ingress of marine life, including fish and jellyfish, clogged a drum filter at Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear power station, causing unit 1 at the facility to trip on 10 March.
Eskom can’t say when exactly the current bout of rolling blackouts will end. The state-owned power monopoly said on Wednesday that load shedding will continue until at least the weekend.
Unit 1 at the Koeberg nuclear power station near Cape Town tripped on Tuesday, forcing Eskom to implement stage-4 load shedding at short notice.
A plan proposed by South Africa’s biggest labour group to get pension funds and state lenders to refinance part of the state power utility’s gargantuan debt faces hurdles that may be impossible to overcome.
A metal best known for galvanising steel is making the jump into a developing $30-billion energy-storage market for electrical grids that’s increasingly seen as key to unleashing solar and wind power upon the world.