In North America, we sometimes (or all the  time) take for granted that we will have continuous access to electricity to keep our digitals flipping and the lights on for our vinyls.  We should count our blessings because that is not necessarily the case in other parts of the world (or in California).

A South African news site, The Media Line, posted an article this week about Outdoor Network, an OOH company based in Johannesburg. They report that Outdoor Network has installed 12 generators to keep digital billboards running when the lights go out due to load shedding. They are currently keeping billboards illuminated in KwaZulu-Natal (Ballito, Pietermaritzburg and Durban); Johannesburg (Cresta); Bloemfontein; East London and Cape Town.

A further eight generators are being installed at other high-traffic sites, and will be operational by the end of July.

The article goes on to quote a representative at Outdoor Network who explains that billboards in South Africa’s major economic hubs need to stay operational during peak hours to give advertisers the engagement they have been promised. But the company is feeling the pinch with no end in sight to load shedding.

So what is load shedding? When the demand for electricity nears available supply levels, it is sometimes necessary for a utility, in South Africa the major utility is Eskom, to temporarily interrupt the delivery of electricity to maintain the integrity of the electric grid and to prevent catastrophic grid failures and extended outages for customers. This is called “shedding load.”

If you are interested, there is a BBC article that paints a picture of the problems that Eskom is dealing with, that is a fascinating read.

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