{"id":53187,"date":"2023-02-22T10:44:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T10:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=53187"},"modified":"2025-08-25T13:06:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T13:06:35","slug":"how-the-government-eskom-can-put-an-end-to-load-shedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/blog\/53187\/how-the-government-eskom-can-put-an-end-to-load-shedding\/","title":{"rendered":"How eskom & the government can put an end to loadshedding in south africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Break free from coal & protect water action in South Africa. Activists from coal-affected communities, Earthlife Africa Jhb and Greenpeace Africa protest in Lephalale. The area is incredibly water-scarce, but also has the 2nd largest coal reserve in South Africa<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Load shedding schedules, which are available on numerous websites and phone applications, are slowly but surely becoming part of everyday South African life and the situation does not show any promise of slowing down. <\/p>\n\n

South Africa\u2019s power utility, Eskom, has not been able to provide a steady electricity supply for several years now. South Africa’s power supply issues go as far back as 2007; they are not a new phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n

However, 2021 was the year with the worst case of load shedding with 1165 hours of darkness and a total of 1.8 TWh of energy unserved by Eskom.<\/p>\n\n

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The saddest part of this situation we find ourselves in is that it is obvious that South Africa is in the midst of an energy crisis<\/a>, that could easily be solved by moving away from coal. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

And yet, South Africa is barely scratching at the surface of its renewable energy potential. <\/p>\n\n

The load-shedding problem has only one solution: allowing for new renewable energy to be built and connected to the grid to address South Africa\u2019s worsening electricity crisis. A solution that can help to both stabilise South Africa’s energy system and reduce the country’s carbon emissions as the continent\u2019s largest CO2 emitter \u2013 and the 12th largest in the world.<\/p>\n\n

In simple terms, what is <\/strong>load shedding?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

When the demand for electricity nears available supply levels, it is sometimes necessary to temporarily interrupt the delivery of electricity to maintain the integrity of the electric grid and to prevent catastrophic grid failures and extended outages for customers. This is called \u201cshedding load.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s a way to help reduce power demand by turning the power off to some customers to help prevent longer, larger outages. The load-shedding situation is not unique to South Africa. However, the frequency of load shedding in South Africa is unique to the country, with citizens associating non-stop blackouts with the term. <\/p>\n\n

Load shedding in the country occurs unpredictably and is caused predominantly by multiple-generation failures of ageing coal plants. These plants usually cannot meet the electricity demand of the country\u2019s population.<\/p>\n\n

In the South African context, load shedding is a measure consisting of controlled power cuts across various regions of the country on a rotating basis.<\/p>\n\n

More specifically, it means that South Africa has been divided into zones and the power is cut off in the respective zones at different times based on a strict schedule. The frequency of those power cuts depends on the load-shedding stage.<\/p>\n\n

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Greenpeace is calling on the state owned utility ESKOM to abandon coal and to instead invest in both green energy sources and jobs<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

In South Africa, shedding load is done to prevent the failure of the entire system when the demand for electricity strains the capacity of Eskom\u2019s power generating system. Load shedding is characterized by periods of widespread national-level rolling blackouts.<\/p>\n\n

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A post shared by Greenpeace Africa (@greenpeaceafrica)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>