Solving South Africa’s load-shedding crisis in three steps 

South Africa’s ongoing electricity crisis, characterized by rolling blackouts, is hindering economic growth and causing inflation and interest rate increases.  

To address the issue, the country can adopt large-scale grid-connected solar farms with battery energy storage, which are more expensive than coal but still affordable compared to current alternatives like diesel generators. However, implementing this technology requires reforms to the wholesale energy market, including unbundling Eskom (the state-owned electricity utility) and creating a market operator and a transmission system operator as independent entities.  

Many countries, including the UK, Canada, and the US, have successfully implemented such market reforms.  

The analysis also highlights the changing energy landscape in South Africa, with customers increasingly turning to alternative energy sources like diesel generators and lithium batteries due to blackouts.  

To solve the peak power problem, the country should take three steps: unbundle Eskom, build connection capacity with bailout funds, and develop large-scale photovoltaic/battery capacity under the oversight of the market operator. 

Read the full article here.