Birds eye view over private hospitals these days as every section of the roof is being used. Not sure about the Government hospitals as I doubt they are in such a ready position to switch over.
Over the last 2 years businesses and individual private residences have had to invest in their own infrastructure. This may not be the perfect solutions to avoid the load shedding but it is a start. The hospital I am currently staying at generates enough solar green energy to run an estimated 130 houses.
This is just a drop in the ocean as they are not self sufficient creating enough energy to leave the grid. Last night when the black out hit there was a good 3 to 4 second pause before the lights were back on. I was busy on my phone at the time and the signal disappeared. The phone tower literally 200m away relies on electricity and things like the internet if using wifi just disappeared.
Forced adoption in order to survive has definitely changed the negative to a positive and many businesses and households are more independent having choices which were not there 2 years ago. In my neighborhood I would say less than 10% have alternative energy sources and that is what I would call middle class so many have done nothing to help themselves.
The scary thought is hospitals should never ever be put in this position as this is serious jeopardy. Hospitals have some big toys like am MRI scan machine and there is no ways this will be operating during blackouts. I do think it is worrying that a hospital will have no wifi or phone signal for the allotted blackout period. Phone service providers have not stepped up to the plate and improved their offering and it is not like they don't make much money.
To think that members of the government have electricity and are never load shed take more of a priority over a hospital. The argument is they need to be contactable 24 hours per day due to holding an important post which is serious bull. On importance levels a hospital outweighs Government officials every day of the week and there is no argument. The power just tripped as it was not scheduled either and shows how delicately balanced the entire grid is.
Fortunately every is starting to look out for themselves and ignoring the lies being fed via the government. South Africa has enough sunlight to seriously go green and if a country like Greece is sitting at 46% renewable energy then others can do this as well. Granted they don't have the electricity demands we have here but they are far stronger and healthier for what they have put in place.
Power supply over the next 5 years will sill be a big issue in South Africa
and other parts of the world as this is the new challenge.