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South Africa faced an acute power crisis beginning January 2008 brought on by a combination of supply-side problems, including coal availability, maintenance needs, and unplanned outages that caused power system reserve margins to fall, virtually overnight, from 10% to almost zero. The size of the power shortage was staggering—about 3500 MW or about 10% of peak demand, every weekday from 6 am to 10 pm.
South Africa is the largest economy on the African continent, accounting for about 35 percent of the region’s GDP. South Africa is also the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa that belongs to the ranks of upper middle-income countries. The economy of South Africa is quite energy-intensive. This is the result of both rapid urbanization and electrification, and a mechanized manufacturing sector that requires heavy use of electric power.
ESMAP has taken significant steps, in line with its new 2008-13 Strategic Business Plan, to extend its engagement with client countries to encompass the nexus of energy security, energy access, and climate change, mirroring the changing landscape of global energy challenges.
The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) is a global knowledge and technical assistance program administered by the World Bank. Its mission is to assist low- and middle-income countries to increase know-how and institutional capacity to achieve environmentally sustainable energy solutions for poverty reduction and economic growth.
Authors: Gevorg Sargsyan, Mikul Bhatia, Sudeshna Ghosh Banerjee, Krishnan Raghunathan, and Ruchi Soni
ISBN 978-0-8213-8780-1
Peru has had a long and successful experience in the utilization of hydropower. Hydropower supplied 68 percent of total electricity generated in the national interconnected system in 2008 as well as supplying dozens of small isolated communities with electricity. However, with the discovery and development of Camisea gas in the 1990s, hydropower development slowed.
The case of Curitiba, Brazil, shows that cost is no barrier to ecological and economic urban planning, development, and management. Curitiba has developed a sustainable urban environment through integrated urban planning. To avoid unplanned sprawl, Curitiba directed urban growth linearly along strategic axes, along which the city encouraged highdensity commercial and residential development linked to the city’s integrated master plan and land use zoning.