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Blackout: The Eskom Crisis
A blow-by-blow account into the degeneration of Eskom from global energy power-house to dysfunctional monolith.
In 1998 the government was warned that the country was running out of electricity. Yet the decision was taken not to invest in new power stations. In 2007, as predicted, South Africa ran out of electricity.
Eight years later the crisis has deepened, and despite assurances by government, this has the potential to become the biggest post-apartheid crisis in South Africa. By 2015 load shedding cost the economy an estimated R2 billion per day.
Is the situation getting better or worse? Are the interventions working or is a blackout inevitable? What can be done and what do future scenarios look like?
Blackout "€“ The Eskom Crisis gives compelling insight into each aspect of the energy crisis "€“ from load shedding to leadership, policy to politics to nuclear versus renewable energy "€“ and unpacks the debates raging in households across South Africa today.
In 1998 the government was warned that the country was running out of electricity. Yet the decision was taken not to invest in new power stations. In 2007, as predicted, South Africa ran out of electricity.
Eight years later the crisis has deepened, and despite assurances by government, this has the potential to become the biggest post-apartheid crisis in South Africa. By 2015 load shedding cost the economy an estimated R2 billion per day.
Is the situation getting better or worse? Are the interventions working or is a blackout inevitable? What can be done and what do future scenarios look like?
Blackout "€“ The Eskom Crisis gives compelling insight into each aspect of the energy crisis "€“ from load shedding to leadership, policy to politics to nuclear versus renewable energy "€“ and unpacks the debates raging in households across South Africa today.
- GenresSouth AfricaNonfiction
230 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 9, 2015
2 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
James-Brent Styan
5 books8 followersJames-Brent Styan is a South African writer. He has written three books of which two have been translated into other languages. His second book, Heartbreaker – Christiaan Barnard and the first heart transplant, is currently being developed for film and TV by an international production house.
James is a former accountant – turned journalist who specialized in finance and politics. He started his career in Johannesburg where he specialized in writing about state owned entities and energy and aviation companies. He followed this up with a number of years working as a senior political correspondent in the National Parliament of South Africa. He has an honors degree in journalism from the University of Stellenbosch and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Pretoria.
He has always been an avid reader and traveler and collector of stories, all which he still hopes to tell. He writes part time and is presently employed as a communicator in the government sector.
James was born in a little mining town on the Witwatersrand in 1980 but was brought up in the Karoo town of Cradock and the Gauteng town of Heidelberg where he matriculated in 1998.
A family man, he enjoys good food, open spaces, fireplaces, good company and considers himself a coffee snob. His aim is to be a New York Times bestselling author and to tell stories that will be retold for years to come.
He stays in Cape Town.
James is a former accountant – turned journalist who specialized in finance and politics. He started his career in Johannesburg where he specialized in writing about state owned entities and energy and aviation companies. He followed this up with a number of years working as a senior political correspondent in the National Parliament of South Africa. He has an honors degree in journalism from the University of Stellenbosch and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Pretoria.
He has always been an avid reader and traveler and collector of stories, all which he still hopes to tell. He writes part time and is presently employed as a communicator in the government sector.
James was born in a little mining town on the Witwatersrand in 1980 but was brought up in the Karoo town of Cradock and the Gauteng town of Heidelberg where he matriculated in 1998.
A family man, he enjoys good food, open spaces, fireplaces, good company and considers himself a coffee snob. His aim is to be a New York Times bestselling author and to tell stories that will be retold for years to come.
He stays in Cape Town.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 11, 2019
A fascinating read and clearly shows why our green paper for adoption of incentives for electric vehicles just died out. Eskom is one of the few utilities in the world encouraging consumers to use less of their product. The capacity of generation power has been dwindling over years and fixing it will take more years and a fortune to fix. It is a trajedy what happened to Eskom but well worth reading as all the details are unpacked and the infographics show it quite plainly.
October 16, 2019
A deep insight into the actual state of affairs behind the scenes. It gets quite technical at points but highlights the complexity that is being dealt with to try and keep the lights on. A drastic step change is needed if we want the economy to grow on the back of elec availability as the current builds are simply replacing soon to be mothballed power stations.
October 27, 2018
Excellent book, well researched. Gives a detailed account of Eskom challenges.
January 8, 2019
Basic primer
A useful primer, although a little out of date now. Dates back to before nuclear became very controversial. Easy to read.
A useful primer, although a little out of date now. Dates back to before nuclear became very controversial. Easy to read.
November 14, 2015
Great book outlining South Africa's problems with Electricity Supply and offering some real easy to implement solutions to improve the long term prospects of the situation.
December 29, 2016
Excellent read to understand Eskom and the predicament we are in. A great way to see how screwed we are but also a great way to see the opportunities that lie in unscrewing us xD!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews