South Africa's Energy Crisis Is Driving a 'Solar Boom', but There's a Downside

The privately-led quintupling of rooftop solar in 2 years takes some pressure off the grid but, without planning, risks deepening energy apartheid.

In his affluent neighbourhood at the foot of Table Mountain, in Cape Town, solar panels now dot the rooftops. To escape the power cuts of up to 12 hours a day - locally known as"loadshedding" - an increasing number of South Africans like Lalu are opting for private electricity generation, driving an unprecedented solar boom.At the source of South Africa's electricity crisis are breakdowns and disruptions at its ageing fleet of coal-fired power plants.

In 2001, Ngwane co-founded the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee to"defend the working class' rights to electricity". Under the former segregationist regime, he says,"cheap Black labour was used to dig out the coal and work at power stations, but Black areas were left in the darkness"."People thought with the new government, we would get electricity," he says.

To ensure a fair and effective energy transition, Viljoen says the government should adopt a"multifaceted approach" that includes allowing households to sell their solar energy back to the grid, promoting community solar projects, and encouraging municipalities to invest in their own renewable energy projects.

대한민국 최근 뉴스, 대한민국 헤드 라인

Similar News:다른 뉴스 소스에서 수집한 이와 유사한 뉴스 기사를 읽을 수도 있습니다.

Energy crisis: South Africa must see nuclear lightNuclear power is touted as the solution to South Africa's energy future despite concerns over cost and time.
출처: TheCitizen_News - 🏆 6. / 75 더 많은 것을 읽으십시오 »

South Africa: Energy Minister Under Fire as Power Crisis DeepensPress Release - It has been an interesting few days at the Africa Energy Indaba, currently in Cape Town, an event The Green Connection says 'exposes the elitist approach to solving South Africa's electricity crisis and reveals that government is completely out of touch with the needs and wants of the people, and climate change.
출처: allafrica - 🏆 1. / 99 더 많은 것을 읽으십시오 »

Here comes South Africa's next energy crisisWe are facing a new blow to energy availability in our economy, with a cliff in natural gas supply just over two years away.
출처: TechCentral - 🏆 8. / 71 더 많은 것을 읽으십시오 »