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Feb
28
2024
By ROULA INGLESI-LOTZ and MENDITA A. UGEMBE
Mozambique’s unstable and expensive power supply is devastating small businesses – study examines what’s gone wrong

Mozambique’s unstable and expensive power supply is devastating small businesses – study examines what’s gone wrong

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
INSIDE a small bakery in Maputo, the morning’s batch of 150 loaves of bread has just gone into the oven. But there’s a problem: the electricity has gone out without warning for the third time that week. Yet again, the batch of bread is ruined. The owners of the bakery have just lost all the flour and yeast they used to prepare the bread, and they won’t be able to sell the failed loaves either. This is just one example of the daily reality for medium and small business owners in Mozambique. We set out to research what happens to…
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Feb
03
2024
By The African Mirror
South Africans are opting to go off-grid: how they’re being helped, and hindered, in their efforts

South Africans are opting to go off-grid: how they’re being helped, and hindered, in their efforts

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
ESKOM, South Africa’s state-owned power utility, struggles to generate and supply a stable flow of electricity to meet demand. In 2023, there were times when households and businesses had no power for up to 11 hours a day. Eskom has warned that load shedding will be worse in 2024. GERMARIÉ VILJOEN, Associate Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, North-West University, North-West University FELIX DUBE, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, University of Pretoria The result is that many South Africans are choosing to end or reduce their dependence on the…
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Dec
17
2023
By The African Mirror
World Bank to provide $750 mln for clean energy projects in Nigeria

World Bank to provide $750 mln for clean energy projects in Nigeria

NEWS
THE World Bank's fund for poor countries plans to provide a credit of $750 million for clean energy projects in Nigeria to increase electricity in Africa's most populous nation, the International Development Association said. The bank said that more than 85 million people lacked access to electricity in Nigeria as of 2021, with households and businesses reliant on expensive diesel and petrol generators. It said the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project will be financed by the International Development Association credit and provide access to new or improved electricity supplies to more than 17.5 million Nigerians. "To further…
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Nov
09
2023
By The African Mirror
Rebel fighting cuts power lines to Congolese city of Goma

Rebel fighting cuts power lines to Congolese city of Goma

NEWS
THE main power lines to the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been cut due to an escalation in rebel fighting nearby, leaving hospitals and water systems without power, the electricity network operator said on Tuesday. Virunga National Park, which operates the network that supplies about 80% of Goma's electricity, said on Monday that clashes between Congo's army and the M23 rebels had severed the main power lines to Goma, a city of over 2 million people and the capital of North Kivu province. The M23 is a Tutsi-led armed group that Congo and U.N.…
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Jun
09
2023
By The African Mirror
South Africa’s power crisis will continue until 2025 – and blackouts will take 5 years to phase out

South Africa’s power crisis will continue until 2025 – and blackouts will take 5 years to phase out

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
SOUTH Africa is in the middle of a severe electricity crisis, with enforced power cuts that have worsened every year. Electricity is sometimes unavailable for 10 hours a day. The shortfall is the consequence of frequent breakdowns at its ageing coal power plants, which constitute 74% of the country’s generating capacity. In theory, improving the performance and reliability of the existing coal plants would resolve the power crisis. This remedy is promoted in some quarters. But it’s easier said than done. To function satisfactorily, many of the plants would require a complete overhaul, which would be both time-consuming and prohibitively…
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Feb
08
2023
By The African Mirror
This Rwandan man has powered his entire community with clean hydroelectric energy

This Rwandan man has powered his entire community with clean hydroelectric energy

NEWS
HAKIZIMANA THEMISTOCLE/BIRD STORY AGENCY FOR the first 13 years of Israel Habimana's life, he had neither heard of nor known about electricity. Many in his community of Kirehe, a border region between Rwanda and Tanzania, had also lived and died without access to electricity. But in 1981, he visited the capital Kigali and was intrigued by how well-lit it was. The allure of the lights never faded, and he vowed to find a way to bring electricity to his village. "In this region, we lived all without electricity, I myself have been living in a house without electricity for many…
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Dec
02
2021
By The African Mirror
South Africa’s Eskom CEO sees end to crisis in shift from coal

South Africa’s Eskom CEO sees end to crisis in shift from coal

NEWS
ALEXANDER WINNING SOUTH African state power utility Eskom sees an opportunity to emerge from years of crisis by shifting from coal-fired power generation towards natural gas and renewables, its chief executive told Reuters. Eskom has implemented power cuts for more than a decade in Africa's most industrialised nation that have held back economic growth and deterred investment. It has roughly 400 billion rands ($25 billion) of debt that it services through regular government bailouts. "From the crisis that Eskom currently finds itself in – very poor plant performance, excessive debt – this contains the opportunity for us to really act…
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Jun
08
2021
By The African Mirror
COVID-19 crisis makes electricity too costly for millions in Africa, Asia

COVID-19 crisis makes electricity too costly for millions in Africa, Asia

COVID-19
THE economic toll from the COVID-19 pandemic has left more than 25 million people in Africa and Asia unable to afford electricity, threatening a global goal to provide power to everyone by 2030, international agencies have on Monday. Two-thirds of those affected were in sub-Saharan Africa, deepening disparities in the region's access to electricity, according to an annual global report tracking progress on sustainable energy. Millions struggled to pay for essential electricity services to power lighting, fans, televisions and mobile phones as the COVID-19 crisis hit jobs and incomes in 2020, the report said. This threatens progress in the last…
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Jul
25
2020
By The African Mirror
Libyans face painful power cuts as years of chaos hit grid

Libyans face painful power cuts as years of chaos hit grid

NEWS
WARFARE has stopped - for now - in the Libyan capital, but long power blackouts caused by years of poor maintenance still cause misery in the scorching summer weather. The blackouts have led to protests, and armed men storming electricity facilities to demand engineers bring back power, underscoring continued instability even after an assault by eastern forces on Tripoli ended last month. Conflict continues, fought between the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), backed by Turkey, and the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) backed by the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Egypt. The LNA assault on Tripoli added to…
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