South Africa's wine industry is under extreme pressure due to continued power outages.
In a picturesque valley two hours’ drive southeast of Cape Town, Berene Sauls is running way behind schedule. The crush from her latest harvest was delayed, bottling often slows to a standstill, and she’s been forced to repackage badly labelled batches of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Unable to meet demand, it resorts to outages that can last as long as 12 hours a day, leaving schools, hospitals, restaurants and businesses relying on backup generators. “We expect measurable, but not a catastrophic, impact,” from disrupted irrigation, she said. “At this stage, it still has a big impact on producer profitability due to additional capital layout to realize the same harvest size and quality.”
Power is not only sporadic, it’s also more expensive, with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa allowing Eskom to increase prices to help it maintain its ailing plants. The winery is getting cost estimations for off-grid options, including solar, inverters and batteries. “Consumers are also struggling,” Basson said. “We have only increased wine prices by 7% this year. It’s impossible to recover the entire cost from price increases.”
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