Energy crisis may spur South Africa to allow more private power

South Africa is considering more than doubling the amount private power producers can generate without requiring a license in a bid to reduce blackouts that are hobbling the economy, people with knowledge of the matter said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is racing to make an announcement as soon as Sunday, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter isn’t public. South Africa last year removed a license requirement for private investors to build their own power plants of up to 100 megawatts under a plan to reduce excessive bureaucracy and add generation capacity.

Ramaphosa, who faces party elections in December, is under pressure to end rationing of electricity that’s plagued Africa’s most-industrialised economy for more than a decade. Still, the new measures are unlikely to alleviate the power shortfall soon. A litany of woes, including breakdowns at its coal-fired plants and labour strife, prompted Eskom to cut 6 000 megawatts of supply — enough to light up 4-million South African homes —