Eskom announces controlled outages in South Africa
South African power provider Eskom have announced controlled outages, involving cutting around 3,000 megawatts of electricity from the grid due to ‘temporary setbacks.’
This method is known as loadshedding, and follows similar cuts in January after South Africa experienced nearly 10 months of uninterrupted power.
According to AfricaNews, Eskom said it would provide updates on March 1st, but have not yet revealed the cause of the latest outages. These outages are often triggered by breakdowns at Eskom’s coal plants, which despite them being old, supply most of South Africa with electricity.
Load shedding is a staged process, with stage 1 involving the cutting of just 1,000 Mega Watts. On February 23rd Eskom escalated the cuts to stage 6 (the highest level) after failures at multiple power stations.
Eskom have maintained that the move is ‘essential’ to replenish emergency energy reserves and to prepare the further week of outages ahead. These cuts are expected to be the most severe in South Africa since November 2023. The cuts have pushed South Africans to get creative, with one singer using a cheese grater and candles to cook meals during the outages.
During February, other African countries have also been taking steps to improve their energy capabilities, with Morocco and Mauritania signing an agreement set to connect their electricity grids across Western Sahara.
AfricaNews, Eskom, MSN Maghrebi
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