Good morning. What’s it like inside Eskom at the moment? What’s being done to solve the energy crisis? And what if it gets worse? A special report attempts to make sense of the Eskom crisis. The power utility has paved the way to secure more than 1,000 MWs. Load shedding has a direct effect on mobile network speeds.
Breakdown Nation: Eskom’s battle to keep the lights on — and what the future holds – News24
The last two weeks have seen Eskom’s performance drop to its worst this year and while the power utility will drop scheduled blackouts from stage 6 to stage 5 today, there is still much that needs to be done to combat load shedding.
News24 has compiled a special report detailing the ins and outs of Eskom’s problems, where we as a country are headed and what some of the country’s metros are doing to solve their electricity woes. The report also unpacks what progress the energy crisis team is making and what life beyond stage 8 might look like.
Eskom secures additional power generation capacity amid continued power cuts – EWN
Eskom has cleared the path for it to procure some 1,000 MWs from independent power producers, which it will do via three programmes with the standard offer programme allowing the power utility to buy energy from producers who have existing generation capacity for the past three years.
It will also be able to procure more than 200 MWs of power from the Southern African power pool. All the combined efforts will see the utility gain more than 1,000 MWs said Eskom.
Load-shedding is crushing mobile Internet in South Africa – MyBroadband
As if load shedding wasn’t bad enough, having poor mobile network speed for internet during blackouts is important for those who rely on it to do their work or stay connected during load shedding. But MyBroadband has found that load shedding directly impacts mobile network infrastructure, which means network speeds tend to suffer during load shedding.
The publication conducted a speed test over two weeks of scheduled load shedding to see how South Africa’s mobile network operators faired during blackouts with results showing a clear correlation in speed drop-off.
Here’s what else we’re reading today:
Rand slips as strong dollar, power cuts weigh – SABC
Ramaphosa races home as energy crisis deepens – Times LIVE
From excuses of wet coal to maintenance issues, Dlamini-Zuma says Eskom is in crisis – Times LIVE
Current rolling blackouts are unwarranted: Energy expert – SABC
Popcru and other unions to take to streets over better working conditions – The Citizen
South Africa’s bars and restaurants are filling up, reports Stats SA – Business Insider
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey to be questioned in Musk buyout case – MyBroadband
Clothing company Patagonia to donate annual profits of $100m to its ‘only shareholder’ — the Earth – Daily Maverick
