South African harvest to be disrupted by power cuts
January 30, 2008
By Sophie Kevany
Rolling power cuts in South Africa are set to cause problems for harvesting.
Fearing the effects the power cuts could have on harvesting and vinifiction processes, local winemaking body Wine Cellars of South Africa has appealed for the times of the power outages to be moved from daytime to early morning or evening.
The cuts are caused by the national grid not coping with sharply rising demand.
'We can't estimate losses during harvest 2008, as we don't know the load-shedding [power cut] frequency. And it depends on how many cellars have generators,' WCSA chairperson Henk Bruwer told a local paper.
But Bruwer warned that if grapes are allowed to heat up during the day, more energy would be used cooling them down again, than would be spent keeping them cool in the first place.
The harvest in Cape area, where daytime temperatures can range anywhere from 20 to 35 degrees centigrade, has started in certain regions and many wineries have already bought generators, however these are expensive to buy and run.
WCSA, which is responsible for 80% of SA wine volumes, has also suggested that South African state utility Eskom buy generators and install them at wineries to reduce costs.
'The wine industry is the biggest agricultural contributor to the balance of payments in South Africa. We had R3.5bn in 2007 in exports, and we will exceed that figure in 2008,' said Bruwer, explaining why winemakers should be helped.
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It is highly unlikely that efficient producers will be affected to much by power cuts.
The longest cut so far has been two hours, and has occured, four times in total during the last 3 months.
Maybe minor problems,but nothing too significant.
Anon
It would be a pleasing consequence if the cut in power extended northward and applied directly to Robert Mugabe
Toby Bensimon, Adelaide, Australia
Obviously this is just one more reason to "think green" in our
industry--including California--and go solar.
Patricia Butler
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