Eskom’s generating plant breakdowns took out a stratospheric 15.9GW on Saturday at 6.30am, the highest level yet, which means an astonishing 40% of its coal fleet of around 40GW was offline.
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Eskom extended power cuts that started on 4 January until Monday after a conveyor belt failure at its Medupi plant – just as Andre de Ruyter officially takes over as head of the cash-strapped company.
Many South Africans still haven’t returned to work from the holiday season, yet Eskom has already plunged the country back into darkness, casting chances of a recovery in the economy in 2020 into serious doubt.
André de Ruyter, the incoming head of South Africa’s debt-burdened state power utility, engaged in questionable stock sales while working as a senior executive at Sasol in 2013, according to a forensic audit report.
Eskom said on Friday that unplanned breakdowns at its power stations are above 13GW, but it said no load shedding is expected due to reduced holiday demand for electricity.
Police arrested two senior ex-managers at Eskom and a number of other suspects over allegations of fraud, corruption and money laundering at the Kusile power plant.
Government is reviving a so-called energy “war room” to tackle the nation’s electricity crisis, as it brought forward the date when the incoming CEO of the state power utility will start work.
Cabinet has mandated public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan to engage the newly appointed Eskom chief executive, André de Ruyter, on the possibility on commencing in the role earlier than anticipated.
The probability of load shedding is low this week, despite a constrained and vulnerable system, Eskom said on Tuesday.
For the second year in a row, Eskom management and key staff members will not take leave in the festive season as the power utility struggles to halt power outages.