Monday, November 8, 2021

Kurz vorm Total blackout
South Africa shuts off electricity in entire regions

The world is looking for ways to reduce CO2; removing carbon is one of the most important means. South Africa currently generates a large part of its electricity from fossil fuels and also from outdated power plants. The grid is now so overloaded that electricity goes out for hours.

Many parts of South Africa are running out of power. Just days after the announcement of a German investment package to support South Africa’s exit from coal-fired power generation, the Cape state is experiencing power outages across the country.

To avoid a nationwide blackout, state power provider Eskom announced Sunday that it would have to take entire regions off the grid for the entire week. He justified this with a network overhead. A total of 17,437 megawatts (MW) of power was missing due to failures, plus the failure of 4,361 MW due to planned maintenance work. Also, there is very little fuel for replacement diesel generators.

International support to South Africa to phase out coal

Despite the global fight for CO2 reduction to protect the climate, South Africa, with its rich coal reserves, continues to depend on around 80 percent of its obsolete coal-fired power plants, which are increasingly prone to failure. to generate power. At the World Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, representatives of the German government declared that they wanted to support the country in the transition to clean energy sources.

The 700 million euros pledged by Germany are part of a new energy partnership with South Africa, which has also been joined by Great Britain, the United States, France and the EU. Total support of US $ 8.5 billion (about € 7.36 billion) is anticipated over the next five years, a large part in the form of loans. The partners also want to mobilize private funds and World Bank funds to promote the use of new clean technologies, including “green hydrogen”, in South Africa. The association is also intended to support the creation of new jobs in these areas.