JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African utility Eskom said it would implement “Stage 2” scheduled power cuts from 9 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) on Saturday until 5 a.m. on Monday, after units failed at three of its coal plants and the return to service of another unit was delayed.
“These constraints, together with higher demand yesterday and today, have resulted in extensive usage of emergency generation reserves, which will have to be sufficiently recovered for the week ahead,” Eskom said in a statement.
Out of its roughly 46,000 megawatt (MW) nominal capacity, Eskom said more than 21,000 MW was offline because of breakdowns and planned repairs.
(Reporting by Alexander Winning. Editing by Jane Merriman)
