South African power utility Eskom said on Wednesday the power supply outlook had improved slightly after it declared a power “emergency” the previous day, although the grid in Africa’s biggest economy remained vulnerable.<\/p>\n
Some of the state-owned utility’s ageing generating units unexpectedly tripped on Tuesday while others were down for maintenance, forcing the company to admit it may have to introduce rolling blackouts, as happened in 2008.<\/p>\n
“The outlook for the day is slightly better than it was yesterday. We are keeping our emergency declaration in place as a precaution,” spokesman Andrew Etzinger told Reuters. “But our reserve margins are still low and remain vulnerable.”<\/p>\n
Some of the generation units that were under scheduled maintenance are expected to return to service on Tuesday, which should ease pressure on the grid, he added.<\/p>\n
Eskom provides 95 percent of South Africa’s electricity but has struggled to ensure supply as it races to bring long-overdue power plants online after the grid nearly collapsed in 2008, hitting mine output in the world’s top platinum producer and pummelling the rand currency.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday mining giant BHP said Eskom had reduced power supply to its aluminium smelters in line with an agreement to stabilise the national grid at times of stress.<\/p>\n
Global gold producer Gold Fields said it halted hoisting for several hours at its South Deep operation after Eskom urged key industrial customers to cut consumption by 10 percent.<\/p>\n
Eskom expects to deliver first electricity from a large coal-fired power plant currently under construction in the middle of next year.<\/p>\n
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