(Bloomberg) -- Blackouts in South Africa will continue through the weekend as the state power utility replenishes water and diesel used for generation, and there's a “high risk” of outages next week.
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. on Saturday said it reduced power to the grid for a third consecutive day. The company will continue to cut 2,000 megawatts from the system until Sunday “as a result of a shortage of generation capacity due to plant breakdowns and the need to manage our diesel and water resources,” it said in an earlier statement.
Read a related article about South Africa's power cuts
Diesel is used to run turbines usually reserved for peak-demand periods. Pumped storage facilities store water at elevation to power turbines, but need time to replenish.
Rotational power cuts, known as load-shedding, are conducted to protect the power system from a total collapse or blackout.
“The system outlook for next week further indicates a high risk that up to Stage 2 load-shedding may be implemented until the middle of next week,” Eskom said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Burkhardt in Johannesburg at pburkhardt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Herron at jherron9@bloomberg.net, Shaji Mathew
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