Eskom says it has had another major setback at its Medupi power station and will be implementing stage-1 load shedding from 9am to 12pm and thereafter revert to stage-2 load shedding until 11pm.
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Estimates of the blackouts’ toll range from R1-billion to R5-billion/day. They could also cost South Africa its last investment-grade credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service.
Cabinet has approved the promulgation of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2019), which provides a blueprint for South Africa’s envisaged energy mix.
South Africa’s struggling state-owned power utility said it will implement a second day of controlled blackouts to prevent a total collapse of the electricity grid amid a shortage of capacity.
Eskom implemented power cuts on Wednesday amid maintenance problems. The rand weakened as investors fretted about the effect on economic growth.
Eskom on Wednesday began a series of scheduled rolling blackouts, the first in seven months, as a shortage of supply meant there wasn’t enough electricity being produced to meet demand.
Eskom said on Wednesday that it will implement stage-2 load shedding from 9am on Wednesday, with outages likely to continue until 11pm.
South Africa has been promising for months to fix Eskom. While little tangible progress has been evident so far, several key decisions are due to be taken this month.
Eskom is approaching the courts in an effort to force energy regulator Nersa to reconsider electricity tariffs for the next three financial years.
President Cyril Ramaphosa poured cold water on proposals by his finance minister, Tito Mboweni, that state power utility Eskom sell some of its power plants to help settle its debt.