South Africa will prioritize the expansion of its grid over the next decade as it aims to finally put an end to daily power cuts, said Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
The government is working on about 25 projects in existing substations that could potentially unlock about 13 gigawatt of energy, he told reporters on Sunday. “In the next 10 years, we think that it’s possible for us to be able to have an additional 24 gigawatt,” he said.
With solutions far in the future, though, South Africa’s power problems roll on. State-owned utility Eskom Holdings SOC announced stage 4 load-shedding on from 2 pm Sunday until 5 a.m. Monday morning.
Power breakdowns in Africa’s most industrialized nation have increased to 16,943MW of generating capacity, it said in a statement. “The grid remains vulnerable and susceptible to plummeting availability of megawatts,” Ramokgopa said.
