South Africans left in the dark after grid collapse
JAZZ SHAW Jul 02, 2022 8:31 AM ET
South Africa is one of the most developed nations on the continent of Africa, with a GDP higher than any other nation there except Nigeria. They also boast a more advanced infrastructure than most of their neighbors. But this week you might not have been able to recognize those advancements since large parts of the country wound up being subjected to rolling blackouts for large portions of each day. Many residents claimed that the power was off for as much as nine hours per day. South Africa relies on electrical heating for a majority of both residential and business properties and winter has arrived there, so the situation is growing critical. But these outages didn’t have anything to do with winter storms or other natural disasters. Like many other countries, South Africa’s electrical grid simply couldn’t keep up with the demand for power, and the main utility company in the country, Eskom, was forced to cycle the power off to avoid having the grid collapse entirely. (Associated Press)
South Africans are struggling in the dark to cope with increased power cuts that have hit households and businesses across the country.
The rolling power cuts have been experienced for years but this week the country’s state-owned power utility Eskom extended them so that some residents and businesses have gone without power for more than 9 hours a day.
A strike by Eskom workers added to the utility’s woes including breakdowns of its aging coal-fired power plants, insufficient generation capacity and corruption, according to experts.
Eskom has already released a statement saying that the blackouts are not a temporary situation. They estimate that it will take “years” to stabilize the power grid, assuming they can manage the feat at all.
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/07/02/south-africans-left-in-the-dark-after-grid-collapse-n480287
