South Africa Faces Decade of Blackouts Without Gas, Study Finds
- Wartsila sees gas-engine plants as solution to energy crisis
- Investment would cost as much as $8 billion, company says
Power outage period in the Hout Bay district of Cape Town.
Photographer: Dwayne Senior/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Wartsila Oyj, a Finnish company that makes power plants, expects South Africa to face electricity outages for at least another decade unless it installs as much as $8 billion worth of gas-fired generation capacity.
The outages stem from state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s failure to adequately invest in new capacity and the maintenance of 14 operating coal-fired power plants. The energy shortages have been exacerbated by the slow ramp up of its two newest plants.