Botswana Experiences Countrywide Blackout Due to Grid Disturbance

Key Highlights :

1. Botswana suffered a countrywide electricity blackout just after midnight on Monday.

2. Eskom says that the current load shedding challenges are in no way linked to the Botswana challenges.

3. Botswana does get some power from South Africa via Zimbabwe. Eskom's Matimba power station and the Spitskop substation in Limpopo relay power to Zimbabwe. Eskom has a contract to supply Zimbabwe with 100MW, and some of it is then exported to Botswana.

4. Botswana also gets power from other southern African countries such as Zambia via Eskom's transmission network.

5. The Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) blamed the blackout on a "grid disturbance" that affected the transmission line from South Africa, as well as a total breakdown at the Morupule power plants, near Palapye in the centre of the country, which supply most of Botswana's power.

6. On Monday, the BPC said that the power plants are being restarted, but stringent load shedding was implemented. According to its schedule, up to eight hours of load shedding at a time were scheduled.

     Botswana suffered a countrywide electricity blackout just after midnight on Monday, with the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) blaming it on a “grid disturbance” that affected the transmission line from South Africa, as well as a total breakdown at the Morupule power plants. Eskom, South Africa’s power utility, distanced itself from the incident, saying that the current load shedding challenges in South Africa were in no way linked to the blackout in Botswana.

     Botswana has a large coal reserve and almost all its electricity comes from coal-fired power stations, with some of it being supplied from South Africa via Zimbabwe. Eskom has a contract to supply Zimbabwe with 100MW, and some of it is then exported to Botswana. Botswana also gets power from other Southern African countries such as Zambia via Eskom’s transmission network.

     The BPC said that the power plants were being restarted, but stringent load shedding was implemented. According to its schedule, up to eight hours of load shedding at a time were scheduled. This was the first time since 2015 that Botswana had occasional load shedding.

     Eskom has been struggling to keep up with South Africa’s demand for electricity, and has implemented Stage 6 load shedding since the beginning of December. This has left South Africans without power for up to four hours a day. Eskom has said that the load shedding is necessary to maintain the integrity of the power grid. Eskom’s spokesperson said that the utility does not have a “firm power supply allocation” for Botswana, meaning it does not export electricity to that country.

     The blackout in Botswana is a stark reminder of the importance of a reliable power supply in the region. It is essential for economic growth and development, and for the well-being of citizens. Eskom and other power utilities in the region need to ensure that their power grids are well maintained and free of grid disturbances. This will ensure that outages such as the one experienced by Botswana are avoided in the future.

Continue Reading at Source : fin24