Rolling blackout

Rolling blackouts generally result from two causes: insufficient generation capacity or inadequate transmission infrastructure to deliver power to where it is needed.

Rolling blackouts are a common or even a normal daily event in many developing countries,[1] where electricity generation capacity is underfunded or infrastructure is poorly managed.

[2] In July 2024, the government started 4 hour per day blackouts affecting homes and industries despite 40 degrees Celsius heat waves, and the severity of power shortages exceeded worst case scenario predictions.

[8][9] Since 2007, South Africa has experienced multiple periods of rolling blackouts which are locally referred to as load shedding by the state-owned energy company Eskom.

It was recently revealed by Eskom's former spokesperson Sikhonathi Mantshantsh, that widespread tender corruption and the sabotage of power infrastructure by employees[10][11] is one of the primary reasons for continuing load shedding.

This has caused severe damage to the South African economy and has played a large part in limiting the country's economic growth.

[21] Rolling blackouts in developed countries sometimes occur due to economic forces at the expense of system reliability,[22][23] or during natural disasters such as heat waves.

For instance, in Italy, the PESSE (Piano di Emergenza per la Sicurezza del Sistema Electrico, Emergency plan for national grid safety) does not permit a controlled blackout longer than 90 minutes.

Independent system operators may introduce rolling blackouts in anticipation of demand spikes, based on often arbitrary minimum thresholds of electricity reserves.

[29] In the case of South Africa, failing and aged infrastructure, lack of maintenance and alleged corruption in the country's African National Congress-led government in the running of their primary electricity provider, Eskom, is the direct cause of rolling blackouts.