Energy Resilience: South Africa's electricity crisis

(Media Release: Issued and provided by the Western Cape Government)

South Africa is currently in an electricity crisis, as demonstrated by rotational load shedding, due to shortages in reliable generation capacity at Eskom.

Intensive and frequent load shedding impacts are crippling business productivity and profitability; have significant impacts on human health and safety; and place municipalities’ revenue base under serious threat due to lost sales through load shedding, diesel costs to maintain critical services, infrastructure maintenance impacts due to load shedding, and consumers defecting from the grid.

Substantiated by the economic impact of energy insecurity and increasing global climate change response action (e.g. carbon trade barriers), energy resilience is a necessary condition for business competitiveness, confidence, investment, growth and job preservation and creation.

Without energy resilience, economic opportunities and low–carbon sustainable development will be constrained.

Read more about the Western Cape Energy Resilience Programme and its strategic objectives here.