Since last January, South Africa’s beleaguered power utility has experienced a significant increase in unplanned power outages, totalling about half of its available capacity year on year (y-o-y), Bloomberg reports.
Whereas unplanned outages were at around the 40% level of available capacity a year ago, y-o-y data for January so far shows that Eskom has suffered an increase in breakdowns of about 10% for the same period.
December is highlighted as particularly bad for unplanned outages, namely about 50% of available capacity.
Eskom’s increasing difficulty to provide for South Africa’s energy demand is also reflected in data pertaining to planned outages, better known as load-shedding.
Whereas load-shedding was closer to the 15% mark in January 2022, y-o-y data by Bloomberg shows that this figure has edged closer to 20%.
Alarmingly, the graph clearly illustrates that Eskom’s energy availability is currently measured at about half of its existing capacity, compared to 40% a year ago.
