July 25, 2008

Eskom warns South African miners of power cuts

Reuters reported that South African state owned power utility Eskom has warned that it may cut power supply to the country's mines again, if it is affected by power generator failure.

According to Reuters, this latest warning follows a tightening power supply situation in South Africa with rolling blackouts and the subsequent five day closure of the country's mines in early 2008.

Reuters noted that Eskom cut power supply to the country's mines on January 25th 2008, after it registered a 4,000MW deficit in supply, which threatened to undermine the entire country's electricity grid.

Eskom, which claims to generate 95% of South Africa's and 45% of Africa's electricity, has a total generating capacity of 37,761MW from its 11 coal fired power stations. According to the news source it has a further 2,300MW of potential capacity from two idle plants, which are reportedly in the process of being re commissioned. Statistics in the Eskom annual report suggest that the mining and industrial sectors collectively use 66% of total Eskom electricity, followed by residential 18%, commercial 10% farming 3.5% and transport 1.6%.