South African Presidency Maps Out Vision to End Loadshedding
- Short-term focus on improving coal-fired plants’ performance
- Wind, solar projects seen as key to ramping up generation
A woman and her daughter do homework during a loadshedding period in Frankfort, South Africa.
Photographer: Shiraaz Mohamed/AFP/Getty ImagesSouth Africa will focus on fixing its dilapidated coal-fired power plants and the longer-term roll-out of at least 50 gigawatts of private renewable energy projects by the end of the decade to tackle crippling blackouts, according to senior officials in the nation’s presidency.
Africa’s most industrialized nation has been subjected to outages since 2008 because state utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. is unable to meet demand for power from its old and poorly maintained plants. The power cuts have intensified since last year, despite repeated government assurances that it’s tackling the problem, and there are fears they could get even worse during the winter months when electricity demand increases.