Shades of Manila circa 1993; California 2001. Five hour rolling blackouts are hitting Johannesburg, Cape Town, and other areas of South Africa as ESKOM, the state utility struggles. Here’s one article, here’s another.
A Cape Town morning radio show that airs 6-9am will be interviewing me tomorrow to talk about Philippines, Asia, and California’s experiences with this problem. They are trying to get some perspective on the problem because people are upset and concerned locally.
Do you remember the “fast track” generation contracts under Fidel Ramos? The 30+ contracts that California signed in early 2001? Both efforts pulled those areas quickly out of the fire … but at a cost. Lots of lessons learned in those experiences.
Hope South Africa takes advantage of that experience, but each situation is so uniquely different. The first several weeks of crafting a solution is critical. It’s very difficult. Teams of people will be working long hours under with not enough time for adequate analysis.