With industrial outputs declining and food production and security coming under threat, it could be easy to overlook the impact that load shedding has on universities and other institutions of higher learning. However, to do that would be to deny the ramifications of power interruptions have on our country’s current, and especially future, ability to meet the needs of the labor market and advance innovation and the economy.

Load shedding disrupts all aspects of an academic institution’s operations. Teaching and learning interruptions delay academic progress, making it difficult for students and faculty alike to adhere to the academic calendar. Research activities are severely impacted as researchers may lose critical data if experiments or data collection processes are interrupted at crucial moments. The resultant delays can negatively affect funding and publication opportunities. In both instances, the reputational damage associated with the non-delivery of academic outputs is significant.

Administrative functions also suffer, complicating the delivery of services such as online registration and the electronic processing of academic records. In residences, students are left without light at which to study, and basic amenities in the form of cooked meals, functioning bathrooms and laundry services.

Many universities have already invested in expensive backup generators that add hundreds of thousands of rands to everyday running costs and/or alternative power sources to mitigate these impacts. During the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation meeting held on 13 March this year, Minister Blade Nzimande reported that the University of Pretoria (UP) spends more than R1,2 million per day on diesel to run the generators that keep its campuses functioning. This is despite the fact that two of its campuses are close enough to hospitals to not be affected by load shedding. While UP is a clear outlier as far as costs are concerned (the University of Cape Town spends R98 500 per day), it at least has the means to buy back-up power. The University of Zululand, by contrast, reported a lack of generators, leaving its students with few options.

One of the most important amenities within any student residence environment is the hot water required for ablution and laundry facilities. And while photovoltaics with battery back up can alleviate some of the above electrical and lighting issues it is not practical for providing reliable hot water to high density accommodation, like in student residences. The positive news is that solutions are available to address this need.