Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. will reduce the intensity of rolling power cuts starting Friday, the state-owned utility said in a Twitter post.
(Bloomberg) — Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. will reduce the intensity of rolling power cuts starting Friday, the state-owned utility said in a Twitter post.
The company will cut 4,000 megawatts from the national grid starting at 5 a.m. on Friday, from 5,000 megawatts currently. The level will be further reduced to 3,000 megawatts from 5am on Saturday.
Eskom Board Decides to Eliminate COO Position (Feb. 2, 17:18 p.m.)
South Africa’s state-owned power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. will eliminate the position of chief operating officer after Jan Oberholzer, who is currently in the role, retires in April, according to board member Mteto Nyati.
The process to find a new chief executive officer to replace Andre de Ruyter when he steps down at the end of March is well underway and a company helping with the search will present a long list of candidates in the next two weeks, Nyati told reporters in an online briefing.
While an agreement between the US and South Africa has lapsed, ending the license that allows Westinghouse to export nuclear fuel to the Koeberg station, more won’t be be needed until mid-2024, Eskom’s chief nuclear officer Keith Featherstone said.
The utility also plans to ease power cuts over the weekend as units are expected to return online.
Power Cuts Intensify, State of Disaster Planned (Jan. 31, 12:51 p.m.)
South African power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. will ramp up outages after breakdowns at six generating units.
The company will increase power cuts to stage 5 — removing 5,000 megawatts from the national grid from 12 p.m. until 9 p.m. Tuesday, it said in a statement on Twitter. It will then implement so-called stage 6 load-shedding for the first time in two weeks, cutting 6,000 megawatts until 6 a.m. on Wednesday, before reverting to stage 5.
South Africa Considers State of Disaster for Energy Crisis (Jan. 30, 7:44 p.m.)
South Africa is considering declaring a national state of disaster as record power cuts cripple the economy.
The government is discussing whether the ongoing energy crisis fulfills the legal requirements for the measure previously used by the government to manage the Covid-19 pandemic, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in closing remarks at the governing African National Congress’s strategy meeting on Monday.
Power Crisis Triggers Water Cuts in South Africa’s Economic Hub (Jan. 30, 2:46 p.m.)
Parts of Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub, are being subjected to renewed water-supply cuts as ongoing electricity shortages disrupt pumping operations.
A power failure at Rand Water’s Eikenhof pump station, which supplies reservoirs in several high-lying areas of Johannesburg, resulted in critically low levels of supply, the municipality said on Twitter on Monday. While repairs have been completed, it warned that time is needed to replenish the storage system. Alternative sources of water have been arranged for hospitals.
State Weighs Measures to Help Households Install Solar (Jan. 30, 8:11 a.m.)
South Africa’s government is considering measures to help households and small businesses install solar power and energy-saving devices, Ramaphosa said.
The actions will help offset the rising cost of electricity after the nation’s energy regulator agreed to allow Eskom to raise tariffs by 19% this year, Ramaphosa said in his weekly statement. Other measures being weighed include supporting households with rechargeable lights, he said.
“We should be able to provide further information on these and other initiatives in the coming weeks,” Ramaphosa said.
Government Discusses Emergency Power Measures (Jan. 27, 2:19 p.m.)
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation in the coming week about steps the government will take to alleviate the nation’s energy crisis, a governing party official said.
State officials are discussing an emergency package of measures and the president may make an announcement before the cabinet begins a strategy meeting on Feb. 1, African National Congress Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula told reporters Friday in Johannesburg.
“This is a crisis and we need emergency interventions,” Mbalula said of the rolling blackouts being implemented by Eskom that are resulting in electricity being cut for 10 hours or more a day. “An emergency package will be announced by government.”
–With assistance from Khuleko Siwele.
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