South African power utility Eskom has implemented Stage 4 load-shedding that aims at cutting up to 4 GW of power demand off the national power grid to avoid a collapse of the system. The company has experienced unplanned breakdowns at its power plants (up to 14.2 GW unavailable). In addition, Eskom is facing incessant rains that affected its coal supply ("wet" coal) and flooded some power plants, while demand is about 600 MW higher than expected. The company is using diesel-fired power units, open-cycle gas turbines and pumped-storage power plants to supplement capacity.
South Africa has been facing similar load-shedding periods since 2013. Eskom is suffering from several opearting adn development issues at its coal-fired plants. The construction of two long-awaited giant coal-fired power projects, Kusile and Medupi (4.8 GW) each, is running years behind schedule and tens of billions of rands over budget. The first units that were commissioned between 2015 and 2017 are operating unreliably and are meeting many technical problems. In addition, many other coal-fired power plants are also experiencing failures due to insufficient maintenance.
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