South African Electricity Conundrum: Which Mitigating Strategies?

Developing a sound electricity infrastructure is widely seen as one of the key growth strategies for many sub-Saharan African countries because of its role in: a) Enabling sustained economic growth b) Helping alleviate poverty c) Helping a country achieve competitive excellence. Because the basic balance between power demand and supply has not been realised in South Africa, recurrent electricity outages are expected in the medium term. This white paper examines the issues surrounding South Africas current electricity issues and provide sound mitigating strategies based on the international experiences of Brazil and Ontario (Canada).