Looming power blackouts threaten South Africa\\\'s economy

PRETORIA, Jan 11 (AFP): South Africa's capacity to generate electricity is shrinking due to ageing power plants, latest statistics show, and the continent's most developed economy could face rolling blackouts for years to come.

New data released by Statistics South Africa highlight how the beleaguered state power utility Eskom, which generates around 95 per cent of the country's electricity, is unable to meet demand.

Electricity production dropped 1.4 per cent 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 the economic hub of Johannesburg were repeatedly plunged into darkness.

Eskom, which relies on its ageing coal stations for supply, has warned of a high risk of more "load shedding" until March at least.

But analysts predict that the blackouts could continue for two more years until new power plants come on stream.

That would be bad news for South Africa as one of the BRICS group of emerging economies considered to have huge potential, along with Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Last year's outages cost companies millions of dollars in lost production and business and battered South Africa's already-struggling economy, which was expected to grow by 1.4 per cent in 2014.