www.alu.com.cn
Eskom Interrupted Power to BHP Billiton Aluminum Smelter on Low Supplies
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
1 min read
Eskom Holdings Ltd., which supplies about 95 percent of South Africa’s electricity, said it interrupted power supplies to BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP)’s smelters this month to help manage “tight supplies” amid colder weather.
Eskom also invoked power-reduction agreements with large customers it can’t name “more frequently, almost daily,” Hilary Joffe, a spokeswoman for Johannesburg-based Eskom said by phone today. Customers, excluding BHP, whose tariff agreement with Eskom incorporates an interruption clause, receive financial compensation in return for reducing electricity use.
“Temperatures dropped quite early, so demand rose,” Joffe said. The utility used gas-fired plants, which are expensive to run “more than usual,” she said.
Electricity shortages caused rolling blackouts and temporarily shut msot of the country's mines and smelters for five days in January 2008. Eskom has warned that the gap between demand and supply will be narrow, at least until the first unit of the Medupi plant, which is part of a 485 billion-rand ($70 billion) expansion program, starts generating power in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Eskom also invoked power-reduction agreements with large customers it can’t name “more frequently, almost daily,” Hilary Joffe, a spokeswoman for Johannesburg-based Eskom said by phone today. Customers, excluding BHP, whose tariff agreement with Eskom incorporates an interruption clause, receive financial compensation in return for reducing electricity use.
“Temperatures dropped quite early, so demand rose,” Joffe said. The utility used gas-fired plants, which are expensive to run “more than usual,” she said.
Electricity shortages caused rolling blackouts and temporarily shut msot of the country's mines and smelters for five days in January 2008. Eskom has warned that the gap between demand and supply will be narrow, at least until the first unit of the Medupi plant, which is part of a 485 billion-rand ($70 billion) expansion program, starts generating power in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Previous article
Smelter plans big spendup
Next articleHindalco clocks 37% dip in net to Rs 2,456 crore
Grow with
AL Circle
