insert_link South Africa Research Shows Load-Shedding Negatively Affects Employment and Earnings in South Africa Load-shedding has negative labour market effects on employment, working hours, and monthly earnings. This is according to research conducted by the University of Cape Town under the South Africa Towards Inclusive Development programme. On average, load-shedding periods were associated with a 2.6-percent lower chance of being employed, 1.3-percent fewer working hours per week, and 1.7-percent lower real monthly earnings. UCT’s Tim Köhler says from a policymaking perspective, the primary […] todayMay 31, 2024 28
insert_link South Africa Power cuts have hit South Africa’s labour market hard: the biggest toll has been on jobs – new research By Haroon Bhorat, University of Cape Town and Timothy Köhler Access to electricity – measured by the share of individuals who use electricity as their main energy source – has significantly improved in lower-income countries in recent decades. Thanks to large-scale rural electrification and infrastructure development programmes, 90% of the population in these countries had access by 2021, up from about 74% at the turn […] todayMay 30, 2024 20
insert_link South Africa Eskom says load-shedding will remain suspended, with today marking the 40th consecutive day without blackouts Eskom says load-shedding will remain suspended, with today marking the 40th consecutive day without blackouts. This is due to significant improvements in curbing unplanned outages and the reliability of the generation fleet. A total of two-thousand-600 megawatts is expected to be returned to service by today. The power utility's spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says the energy availability factor has been above 60-percent since the 29th of last month and reached the […] todayMay 6, 2024 4
insert_link South Africa South Africa’s electricity crisis: a series of failures over 30 years have left a dim legacy By Mark Swilling, Stellenbosch University In 1994, apartheid ended and the African National Congress (ANC) won South Africa’s first ever democratic elections, promising “Electricity for All” as part of its Reconstruction and Development Programme. Back then only 36% of all South Africans had electricity in their homes. The development programme promised to double that number by electrifying an additional 2.5 million homes by 2000. This seemed […] todayApril 19, 2024 18
insert_link South Africa South Africans are opting to go off-grid: how they’re being helped, and hindered, in their efforts By Germarié Viljoen, North-West University and Felix Dube, University of Pretoria Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned power utility, struggles to generate and supply a stable flow of electricity to meet demand. In 2023, there were times when households and businesses had no power for up to 11 hours a day. Eskom has warned that load shedding will be worse in 2024. The result is that many South Africans […] todayFebruary 2, 2024 15
insert_link South Africa South Africa ramps up commercial solar installations to counter load shedding By Conrad Onyango, via bird story agency South Africa is leading other countries in a radical shift towards more reliable energy sources as its business and industry owners contributed the highest addition of the 3.7-Gigawatt peak (GWp) in new solar capacity on the continent in 2023. The Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) annual Solar Outlook 2024 released recently revealed that South Africa more than doubled its new solar installations, from […] todayJanuary 24, 2024 14
