South Africa’s Eskom capacity to generate electricity is shrinking due to ageing power plants, latest statistics show, and the economy could face rolling blackouts for years to come, France24 said. New data released by Statistics South Africa highlight how the beleaguered power utility Eskom, which generates around 95% of the country’s electricity, is unable to meet demand. Electricity production dropped 1.4% from January through November last year compared with the same period in 2013. In November, Eskom had to introduce power cuts across the country to prevent a collapse of the grid after a coal storage silo collapsed. The outages escalated in December when swathes of Johannesburg were repeatedly plunged into darkness.
