Four of South African state utility Eskom's 15 coal-fired power plants are breaching government emissions regulations as it pushes ageing facilities to their limits, a Reuters analysis of company data found and Eskom officials confirmed.
Africa's most developed economy is facing its worst power crisis on record, with a persistent electricity shortfall necessitating daily scheduled rolling blackouts - known locally as loadshedding - of up to 10 hours for the past 18 months.
This leaves South Africa in the meantime with a choice between keeping the lights on and protecting the health of its citizens."We've got a constrained system. It's just that there's not enough space for maintenance, and there is sometimes a trade-off made," Deidre Herbst, Eskom's senior environmental manager, said of the emissions breaches.
Company-wide, Eskom's particulate emissions last year were at their worst levels since the early 1990s, an internal Eskom presentation reviewed by Reuters showed. The 35-year-old Kendal power station emitted an average of between 10- and 30-times the permissible limit, Eskom's data from January showed.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Health minister is confident the NHI will equalise South African healthcareThe health minister says having universal coverage is imperative for achieving South Africa's sustainable development goals by 2030.
Read more »
Kenya, South Africa, Sudan: Ukraine courts African support at UN by offering helpPresident Zelensky and his allies offer nations practical reasons to back Kyiv, from a grain hub in Mombasa to military help in Sudan.
Read more »
Fake govt tenders, suppliers fleecing South African businesses of millionsSouth African businesses have lost, and continue to lose, millions through a procurement scam where con artists impersonate both government departments and suppliers.
Read more »
The average South African needs to work 27 days to afford the iPhone 15 ProPicodi has published its 2023 iPhone Index, which compares the launch prices of Apple’s flagship smartphones with the average worker’s earnings in 64 countries.
Read more »