Load shedding as Majuba suffers another cracked silo

Stand by for blackouts!

That was the call from Eskom on Friday morning, with its website revealing load shedding in some areas. A company spokesman said that people should be prepared for power cuts this past weekend.

The news followed an investigation of the silos at Eskom’s Majuba power station revealing a crack in another one of its coal-storage silos. The culprit, Silo 30, has been shut down and barricaded for safety reasons.

This investigation was primed by the November 1 collapse of silo 20, which crippled the power plant and resulted in a period of load-shedding.

And this at a time when Eskom’s spare capacity is so very limited. Majuba’s output, for example, is currently only about 60% capacity.