South Africa: Eskom - From Crack to Collapse, SA's Power in Peril

analysis

South Africa's power utility announced stage two load-shedding on Sunday after a coal silo "cracked" at the Majuba power station. Instead of cracking, South Africa's power system is constantly on the verge of collapse.

On Saturday evening Eskom announced load shedding would commence after a coal silo at Majuba power station "cracked this afternoon" cutting supplies to all six of the station's units. Earlier at 12:30, staff noticed a crack in the silo and within 40 minutes they were evacuated and the structure collapsed. Immediately, Majuba's capacity dropped from 3,600 MW to 1,800. On Sunday the station was running at 600 MW as rolling blackouts occurred across Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth, raising the spectre of the 2008 energy crisis.

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