Recently, the South African National Electricity Company (Eskom) announced that it will implement a new round of level 6 power curtailment on the afternoon of July 4. Affected by continued power cuts, the South African currency rand briefly fell to its lowest level since October 2020.
This week, data released by the South African Scientific and Industrial Research Council showed that in the six months since the beginning of 2022, the South African Power Group has reduced power generation by 2,276 GWh, which is close to the level of last year; and the length of power curtailment has exceeded 2021 90% of the total blackout duration.
Long-term power outages have greatly affected the lives of local people, and companies have to stop production or use diesel generators to generate electricity.
South African energy experts say severe power outages are expected this winter. Power outages cost South Africa more than $40 million a day and discourage inward investment.
It is understood that South Africa's electricity supply relies heavily on coal-fired power plants. In an effort to reduce environmental pollution, South Africa is looking to increase the amount of electricity it generates from solar and other renewable energy sources, but experts say it will take years to significantly increase South Africa's power generation capacity.
