South Africa entered a fifth day of rolling blackouts on Thursday as the government prepared to announce a raft of measures to end electricity shortages that are having a debilitating impact on the economy.
State power utility Eskom will cut 2GW from the South African grid on Thursday after it lost three power generation units with a combined 823MW, it said in a statement late on Wednesday. While one unit of 600MW was successfully restored, its power generation system remains “vulnerable”.
“While there has been some improvement, the power system continues to remain vulnerable. Should Eskom experience significant unplanned generator trips, this could impact the magnitude and risk of load shedding,” the company said. Thursday’s cuts are less severe than the previous two days, when the utility removed 3GW from the grid, and 12 February, when 4GW were shed.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government will outline plans to help save Eskom on Thursday. More measures will be announced in the budget statement next week to help the cash-strapped utility stay afloat. — Reported by Felix Njini, (c) 2019 Bloomberg LP
