South Africa Facing Risk of Unprecedented Level of Power Outages

9/18/2022

South Africa Facing Risk of Unprecedented Level of Power Outages

South Africa is facing a risk of an unprecedented level of blackouts this week after units at two of its coal-fired power plants broke down.

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. earlier on Sunday (Sept. 18) began cutting 6,000 megawatts from the national grid, in what it calls Stage 6 power cuts, after generation units tripped at the Kusile and Kriel power stations. That’s sufficient energy to supply almost 4 million South African homes.

The nation is now at risk of breaching Stage 6, the utility’s Chief Executive Officer Andre De Ruyter said at a briefing on Sunday when asked if the situation might worsen.

The ongoing blackouts—the worst year on record—were a major contributor to the economy’s 0.7% contraction in the second quarter. Severe outages are a hazard to workers in deep-level mines and hurts manufacturing across Africa’s most-industrialized nation.

Eskom also poses a significant risk to public finances, with the government guaranteeing as much as 350 billion rand ($19.9 billion) of its debt.