
By Andre Janse van Vuuren
(Bloomberg) — SA’s state electricity utility implemented rolling blackouts for a fifth straight day as it seeks to protect the grid from collapsing amid the failure of generating units.
Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. said it would cut supply by as much as 1,000 megawatts from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. It’s the longest stretch of rolling blackouts since February and follows a 4,000- megawatt reduction for the past two days, which is about 12 percent of average demand for electricity.
“The electricity supply system remains very constrained and vulnerable due to a shortage of generation capacity,” the Johannesburg-based utility said in an e-mailed statement. “Several units are currently out of service due to planned and unplanned outages.”
This week’s shortages come as the utility contends with labor unrest by construction workers at the Medupi coal-fired plant, the first unit of which was connected to the grid this year. The blackouts are forcing businesses to close at peak times and snarl traffic across cities in Africa’s most- industrialised economy.
Less than 2,000 contractors of a typical workforce of about 14,000 are expected at the Medupi plant, Khulu Phasiwe, a spokesman for the utility, said by phone. “They’re in the process of getting some employees to work, but some are staying away because of intimidation,” he said.
The utility offered to rehire workers who participated in an illegal strike, but the contract workers are still demanding concessions, including bonuses.
“Workers will not be returning to work,” National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa spokesman Castro Ngobese said in a text message.
While Eskom has installed capacity of 41,995 megawatts, 29 percent of that has been out of service on average over the past five months because of planned maintenance and plant failures, according to data from the company. Demand for power in South Africa has averaged about 29,000 megawatts over the period.