Emergency Power Fiasco Compounds South Africa Energy Crisis

The debacle surrounding South Africa’s bid to secure emergency power supplies has highlighted a dysfunctional energy policy that’s subjecting Africa’s most-industrialized nation to intermittent blackouts.

Since March, the energy department has identified companies it wants to provide almost 2,000 megawatts of electricity to the grid by August next year. But a losing bidder has alleged that the selection process was corrupt and sought to reverse it in court, environmental activists have raised objections and lawyers are at odds over whether ship-based power plants can be moored in the nation’s ports.