The lights are going out all over Africa

At the end of a week of unprecedented power cuts across southern Africa, South Africa's Cabinet has declared a "national electricity emergency" and announced energy-saving measures including solar power and more use of gas. (All Africa.com) Government's complete statement here . Power crisis "national emergency": SA govt ."South African power supply company Eskom is looking for a total reduction of 15% and 20% of current electricity consumption across the system. "

Lord Patel and FCUKED have been bleating on about energy security since 1999 - here is a post from Monday, January 08, 2007 which clearly and succinctly states the dilemma facing Southern Africa.

However the whole of Southern Africa is facing huge electricity supply problems.

The SA Power Pool*** - a body that co-ordinates the planning and operation of electricity power systems among South African Development Community member states — total annual demand will clock 44 689 megawatts by the end of 2007
against combined net generation capacity of 45 000MW.

At the current growth rate, total regional demand for electricity is projected to hit 45 827MW by the end of 2008; 47 920MW in 2009; 48 795MW in 2010; and 50 291MW in 2011.

Capital projects totalling US$5.2 Bn are required simply to meet the projected shortfall in the region.

Among the SA government’s new proposals:

Promoting solar water heaters and solar-power traffic and street lights;

Introducing liquefied petroleum gas (LP gas);

Distributing energy-efficient light bulbs;

Introducing power rationing;

Putting pressure on the coal industry, which is exporting its best quality coal, to provide local power stations with a higher quality coal.

Eskom has coal stocks for 2/3 days.The current spot price of coal is about R100 a ton, the cost of transporting it 80km is about R150 a ton.Excessive rain has also dampened stockpiles of the fuel.

Extra transport costs and fuel quality are also problems especially as coal mines were closed over Christmas . ...Many more weeks of rolling blackouts are in prospect.


The sound of stable doors being shut is deafening.

*** Created in 1995, the South African Power Pool (SAPP) aims to link SADC member states into a single electricity grid. The national utilities currently participating in the SAPP are Angola's Empresa Nacional de Electricidade (ENE), the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC), the Democratic Republic of Congo's SNEL, the Lesotho Electricity Corporation (LEC), Malawi's Electricity Supply Commission (Eskom), Mozambique's EDM, Namibia's Nampower, South Africa's Eskom, the Swaziland Electricity Board (SEB), Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco), Zambia's ZESCO, and Zimbabwe's ZESA

East Africa: Regional Power Pool Starts in 2011