NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

South Africa is in the midst of its worst ever electricity rationing program due to depressed generation capacity resulting from several factors, including frequent breakdowns at its aging coal power plants. This electricity rationing is costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars per year. The City of Cape Town is working to reduce the impact of electricity rationing in the city in the near future, and ultimately, to eliminate it all together. The City is busy implementing several projects to achieve this. On the 6th of April, the City issued its largest power tender yet, seeking to buy 500 MW of dispatchable energy on the open market. This is the final phase of a three-phase procurement to protect residents from the first four stages of Eskom’s load-shedding within three years.

Photo courtesy of andreas160578.