SA may reduce power cuts to lower level by Thursday

South Africa’s state-owned power utility continues to cut 5 000 megawatts of capacity from the national grid and may only reduce this to 4 000 megawatts by September 22.

While some generation units are anticipated to return to service, it is necessary to continue with so-called stage 5-load shedding to limit the use of the emergency generation reserves, Eskom said in a statement on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon. There is the possibility of reducing one stage by Thursday, it said.

Over the weekend Eskom removed 6 000 megawatts from the grid as power stations malfunctioned. The utility struggles to meet electricity demand due to aged infrastructure that breaks down and that is weighing on economic growth and business confidence.

Emergency generation reserves are “severely constrained by extensive utilisation to supplement generation capacity,” Eskom said.