South Africa's struggling power utility started rolling power blackouts for the second time this week and is warning that electricity shortages may worsen due to rains which are causing coal-handling problems.
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which provides about 95% of South Africa's electricity, will cut about 2,000 megawatts from the grid from Friday to Saturday morning, the Johannesburg-based utility said in an emailed statement. Persistent rains, which make coal handling difficult and contribute to reduced generation could result in deeper power cuts, Eskom said. The utility started this month's power cuts, known locally as load-shedding, on Thursday.
“This could further impact supply as the rainy weather persists,” Eskom said. “While not expected or planned, further deterioration of plant performance of emergence of other risks may necessitate invoking further stages of load-shedding.”
Debilitating power cuts in Africa's most industrialized economy have emerged as one of the biggest threats to the nation's economic growth prospects. Electricity shortages in the first quarter contributed to South Africa's biggest economic contraction in a decade.
To contact the reporter on this story: Felix Njini in Johannesburg at fnjini@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Vernon Wessels, Renee Bonorchis
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