Last year saw the most blackouts in South African history, overtaking 2020; and this year is set to beat the record again
weather forecast. South Africans these days are more interested in the outlook for rolling blackouts. One of the country’s most-downloaded apps provides alerts and schedules for power outages. Eskom, the state power monopoly, cannot generate enough electricity to meet demand, and is deploying a byzantine system of rotating outages known as “load-shedding”, so as to avoid the collapse of the entire grid. .
The latest power cuts have been exacerbated by an unauthorised strike by workers at Eskom. That action occurred while power stations amounting to around 40% of total generating capacity have broken down. Part of the reason, says Andre de Ruyter, Eskom’s chief executive, is sabotage by criminal gangs out to pilfer fuel and materials. Two big coal-fired stations, Kusile and Medupi, remain dysfunctional years after they were due to be fully operational, as well as being hugely over budget.
The company’s troubles have their roots in the shift from apartheid. South Africa’s power grid was designed to serve the white minority and the desire for industrial self-sufficiency in the face of international sanctions. After the first democratic elections in 1994, the new government, led by the African National Congress , connected poor black areas to the grid. Massive expansion was needed to meet surging demand.
Eskom is in many ways symbolic of South Africa’s fall from the heady days of the 1990s. It is also indicative of howgovernments have squandered huge opportunities. The country—not short of sunshine, waves or wind—ought to be at the forefront of Africa’s push for renewable energy, yet Eskom’s coal-fired power stations account for about a quarter of all carbon emissions in sub-Saharan Africa.
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