Site icon Pindula South Africa

Electricity Load-shedding in South Africa

South Africa has experienced a shortage or electricity since late 2007. This shortage means that the demand for power is greater than Eskom’s capacity to generate it. The result has been load shedding from time to time especially when some equipment is taken down for maintenance. In December 2019, Eskom upgraded the load-shedding to stage 4. Stage 4 is the highest degree of load-shedding. South Africa exports power to neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe. Eskom is South Africa’s primary electricity supplier. In March 2019, Eskom CEO Phakamani Hadebe said that R50bn had been set aside over the next five years for maintenance, in order for the to keep up with electricity demand.

Eskom Power Generation Capacity

Eskom has total nominal capacity of around 44,000 megawatts (MW). Of that, 36,500 MW comes from 15 coal-fired power stations. Eskom generates more than 90% of South Africa’s power and 40% of the electricity on the African continent. Eskom also generates power at using See map of Eskom Power Stations (2013 version)

Causes

Understanding load-shedding stages

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Other stages

In March 2019, it was reported that officials at Eskom had said that the power utility company had started planning for Stage 5 and Stage 6 load shedding. Eskom itself has schedules up to Stage 8 but has never implemented these to date.

Effect of load-shedding on South Africa’s economy

Load shedding forces many businesses to invest in expensive alternative power sources such as diesel generators and solar power systems. This drives up the cost of doing business. Some operators are also forced to close their businesses during load shedding periods. The actual impact however is not known in figures. In October 2019, Old Mutual Investment Group chief economist Johann Els said
“It is negative in the era when the economy is so weak and struggling to recover; it impacts confidence. But it is difficult to quantify, since mines have not reported how this has affected them. For the past four years, our economy has been struggling to grow beyond 1 percent, so we need all the electricity we can.” https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/return-of-load-shedding-deals-economy-a-blow-35129121
 

Useful reading

Exit mobile version