S.Africa faces week-long power outages after silo collapse

Four major cities in South Africa suffered power cuts Sunday due to a huge loss in output after a coal storage silo collapsed, as the electricity provider warned of outages all week.

Blackouts were reported in Johannesburg, Africa’s economic capital, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and could run through the whole week, the state-owned power supplier Eskom said.

Eskom lost 1,800 megawatts due to a loss of capacity at its Majuba power station in Mpumalanga in northern South Africa.

A crack in a silo that held more than 10,000 tonnes of coal on Saturday caused the loss, Eskom said, warning of blackouts between 8:00 am and 10:00 pm.

Eskom, which supplies 95 percent of South Africa’s electricity, has been struggling to meet growing demand, hobbled by years of underinvestment and ageing infrastructure.