South Africa’s Eskom is increasing power cuts in order to prevent a total collapse of the grid as issues grow from lack of imports to breakdowns at its coal-fired plants.
The utility, which generates almost all of the nation’s electricity, plans to increase the power it cuts from the system to 3,000 megawatts on Monday due to a “significant shortfall” of generation, Chief Executive Officer Andre de Ruyter told reporters in an online briefing.
“Extraordinary measures” are needed to improve the system, De Ruyter said. “The performance has been quite disappointing.” Units expected to be online have been delayed, even at its newest station, while thousands of megawatts of generation are at risk as they run at reduced levels with various leaks and other problems, Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer said.
Even emergency reserves are under pressure. Open-cycle gas turbines, that are burning two million litres of diesel a day, must manage fuel use carefully. Eskom is tracking the arrival of vessels that will replenish supplies and trying to expedite it, Oberholzer said.
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