An economic report warned that South Africa may face power outages for longer periods in the next two or three years because the capacity of “Eskom Holdings” for electricity is less than estimates, and the government expectations about supply and demand in the electricity sector are very optimistic.
According to the South African – Business Day, the report, prepared by the Scientific and Industrial Research Council, made it clear that if serious steps were not taken to alleviate the crisis, South Africa would face power cuts for periods of up to 3 times longer than last year’s.
The report pointed out that the models of estimates of supply and demand on which the Government’s “Integrated Resources Plan” relied on assuming that the shortage in electricity supplies ranges between 2000 and 3000 MW until 2022, but the poor state of the country’s power stations indicates that these estimates are very optimistic.
At the same time, the Council expects the electricity demand to shrink considering the weak status of the South African economy, calling for amending legislation, allowing companies to produce their electricity needs as a quick solution to the crisis. The council states that such a measure could contribute to adding 1,200 MW to South Africa’s electricity production within 12 months.
