South Africa’s state power utility increased the intensity of electricity outages to the highest in more than a month, after an increasing number of its generating units broke down overnight.
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. will remove 6,000 megawatts from the grid — known as stage 6 loadshedding — from 2 p.m. until 5 a.m. on Thursday, it said in a statement. Stage 4 loadshedding is currently in force and will be implemented again from 5 a.m. on Thursday, with the pattern being repeated until further notice, it said.
The last time stage 6 was implemented was June 3, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
More Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (July 12, 2:03 p.m.)
The electricity provider has ramped up the use of its emergency generation facilities since the weekend, as it tries to balance reduced capacity from its coal-fired plants with increased demand amid plunging winter temperatures.
During peak demand on Monday, Eskom used 22 open-cycle and other gas turbines, compared with 10 on Sunday, according to updates on the utility’s Twitter feed. The last time the company reported using more than 20 turbines was May 22.
US Investment in Transmission Grid (July 11, 12:34 p.m.)
The US Trade and Development Agency announced a $1.3 million grant to help fund technical assistance to assess the economic, technical, commercial and financial viability of using new technologies to improve South Africa’s transmission grid, Business Day reported.
The provision of the grant could potentially help leverage as much as $200 million in additional financing, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said, citing USTDA director Enoh Ebong.
Read: Business Day.za: US awards Eskom R18.6m grant for transmission grid
--With assistance from Mpho Hlakudi and Simbarashe Gumbo.
