Eskom resumes power blackouts as emergency capacity dwindles

South Africa’s ailing power utility Eskom will resume nationwide power cuts on Thursday evening, cutting up to 2 000 megawatts from the grid as it struggles to replace the emergency capacity it used this week to keep the lights on.

“This is due to system constraints and our depleting emergency resources. We have been using pumped storage schemes and open cycle gas turbines extensively over the past few days in order to supplement capacity, and we need to replenish these overnight,” Eskom said in a statement.

Eskom said it was likely the power cuts would continue into the weekend.