So cheap and efficient only the rich can afford it: South Africa’s Solar Boom Is Worsening Inequality
If you want something done, sometimes you just have to do it yourself. That’s the attitude taken by many South African households and companies as they invest in alternative-energy sources to avoid blackouts and soaring electricity tariffs. This movement has clear winners and losers.
Fed up with weathering the worst power crisis on record as state-owned utility Eskom struggles with debts and aging coal-fired power plants, businesses are finding ways to generate their own electricity. Most recently, Africa’s biggest mobile phone group, MTN, announced that it’ll spend 1.9 billion rand ($101 million) by the middle of the year on generators, batteries and renewable energy.
Being free of the creaky grid, which shuts down periodically in what’s known locally as load shedding, could help South Africa’s economy get back on track after being derailed by rolling blackouts. Consumers are saving money on their steeply rising energy bills and regaining a sense of control over their power access. It’s also reduced the severity and frequency of load shedding, as demand for Eskom-generated power drops.
But the full picture is more complicated.