Botswana blackout not linked to SA load shedding

Eskom has distanced itself from the brief blackout in Botswana on Monday. Botswana suffered a countrywide electricity blackout just after midnight on Monday."The current load shedding challenges are in no way linked to the Botswana challenges," an Eskom spokesperson said.Given the lack of electricity in South Africa, Eskom says it doesn't have a "firm power supply allocation" for Botswana, meaning that it doesn't export electricity to that country.But 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.Botswana also gets power from other southern African countries such as Zambia via Eskom's transmission network.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.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 last had occasional load shedding last year – for the first time since 2015. The country has a large coal reserve and almost all its electricity comes from coal-fired power stations.-Fin24

Botswana blackout not linked to SA load shedding

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-06-27

Please login to leave a comment

Botswana blackout not linked to SA load shedding

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-06-27

Please login to leave a comment

Login